{"product_id":"the-paper-garden-mrs-delany-begins-her-lifes-work-at-72-9780771070365","title":"The Paper Garden: Mrs. Delany Begins Her Life's Work at 72","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Paper Garden is unlike anything else you have ever read. At once a biography of an extraordinary 18th century gentlewoman and a meditation on late-life creativity  it is a beautifully written tour de force from an acclaimed poet. Mary Granville Pendarves Delany (1700-1788) was the witty  beautiful and talented daughter of a minor branch of a powerful family. Married off at 16 to a 61-year-old drunken squire to improve the family fortunes  she was widowed by 25  and henceforth had a small stipend and a horror of a marriage. She spurned many suitors over the next twenty years  including the powerful Lord Baltimore and the charismatic radical John Wesley. She cultivated a wide circle of friends  including Handel and Jonathan Swift. And she painted  she stitched  she observed  as she swirled in the outskirts of the Georgian court. In mid-life she found love  and married. Upon her husbands death 23 years later  she arose from her grief  picked up a pair of scissors and  at the age of 72  created a new art form  mixed-media collage. Over the next decade  Mrs Delany created an astonishing 985 botanically correct  breathtaking cut-paper flowers  now housed in the British Museum and referred to as the Botanica Delanica.  Delicately  Peacock has woven parallels in her own life around the story of Mrs Delanys and  in doing so  has made this biography into a profound and beautiful examination of the nature of creativity and art.  Gorgeously designed and featuring 35 full-colour illustrations  this is a sumptuous and lively book full of fashion and friendships  gossip and politics  letters and love. Its to be devoured as voraciously as one of the court dinners it describes.  From the Hardcover edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45646877786165,"sku":"ByrdShop_0771070365","price":44.45,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780771070365.jpg?v=1781679519","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-paper-garden-mrs-delany-begins-her-lifes-work-at-72-9780771070365","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}