APPENDIX 



JAPANESE ART OF ARRANGING CUT 

 FLOWERS 1 



IT is now some years since Mr. J. Conder's excellent book, 

 ' The Flowers of Japan and the Art of Floral Arrangement,' 

 was first published. But the principles laid down in it have so 

 little penetrated the art of cut- flower arrangements in England 

 that it may be assumed either that the book is still very little 

 known or that its teaching has been set down as unsuited to 

 English flowers and flower-vases. The book is not published 

 in England, but almost any bookseller will get it from Japan ; 

 the cost is 2Z. 2s. The coloured plates, to which chiefly this 

 high price is due, do not materially contribute to the expounding 

 of the theory and, although full of character and beauty in 

 themselves, could be omitted without loss to the main object 

 of the book. A smaller and much cheaper edition of the work 

 could then be produced and published in England. 2 



1 From the Garden of October 6, 1894. 



2 Mr. Conder has lately published three articles on the same subject 

 in the October, December '96, and January '97 numbers of the Studio 

 that unusually artistic magazine which is to be had monthly for one shilling. 

 Mr. Conder's articles are beautifully illustrated with numerous plates 

 of Japanese designs, reproduced from photographs ; and in the text he 

 sums up many of the most interesting points contained in his book. He 

 does not suggest that the art of which he writes could be applied to the 

 arrangement of cut flowers in England, but it is to be hoped that these 

 articles which are, unfortunately, already out of print may be re- 

 published in book form. The great beauty of the illustrations would do 

 more to spread the practice of the art amongst English people than any 

 written theory upon it. C. L., March 1897. 



