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OSS i FOREWORD A large part of this material has never before been made public. Many of the illustrations are entirely original and were made expressly for this book and all but four of the garden plans were drawn especially for it. But the book makes no claim for literary merit. With the exception of the introduction, it is altogether the work of amateurs. Nor does it profess to tell a// about Virginia’s old gardens. It does not undertake to tabulate all their beauties and recite everything for which they are famed. It tells but little of the celebrated men and women who have trod their paths, for throughout the aim has been for historic accuracy rather than romantic interest or literary value. The editor would record her grateful appreciation of the work of the Historic Garden Committee and all those who so kindly aided in the research. She acknowledges particularly the courtesy of the garden owners, the kindness of those who lent paintings, prints or photographs for reproduction and all who, personally, drew or had drawn, the plans which lend such interest and value to the book. Great thanks are due to Mr. William G. Stanard and Mr. Robert A. Lancaster, Jr., authorities on Virginia history. It has been with a desire of lifting the latch of some of the old gates and, through the courtesy of their owners, inviting the reader to enter the gardens that the James River Garden Club has undertaken, before it is too late, to “gather up the fragments that remain." EDITH DABNEY [TUNIS SALE. Tuckahoe, Virginia. March, 1923. [4]
