Edith Holden

Edith Holden was a British artist, naturalist and teacher whose private nature journal became one of the most beloved books of the twentieth century, decades after her death. Born in 1871 in Birmingham, she studied art and became a skilled illustrator of natural history. Nature Notes for 1906 is her illustrated diary recording the plants, animals, birds, weather and countryside she observed throughout the year, accompanied by her beautiful watercolour paintings, sketches and pressed flowers. The journal was never intended for publication during her lifetime, but when it was discovered and published in 1977 as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, it became a massive international bestseller, inspiring a global phenomenon of merchandise, adaptations and renewed interest in nature observation. Holden's gentle, meticulous observations capture a vanished world of Edwardian rural England with charm and artistic skill. Her audiobooks and books continue to delight readers who love nature, art and the beauty of the changing seasons. She died in 1920.