MALING, E. A.   A HANDBOOK FOR LADIES ON IN-DOOR PLANTS, FLOWERS FOR ORNAMENT, AND SONG BIRDS.         London: Smith, Elder and Co.,   1870.          A richly detailed manual providing the Victorian lady with directions for the cultivation of flowering plants for the drawing room, balcony, glass case and conservatory, for the rearing of ornamental song birds, and, perhaps most interestingly, for the preservation and arrangement of cut flowers in wreaths, bouquets, vases, fountains, etc. The second part of the work, that on the preservation and arrangement of cut flowers, provides numerous suggestions for bouquet designs, table decorations, "dishes of flowers for drawing room tables," "flowers to be tried by candle-light," and "floral pavements" (adapted from the Italian custom of setting off a pattern on the ground with masses of many colored petals). The third part gives advice on taming and breeding song birds at home in aviaries and cages. Each of the three sections was originally published as a separate work. With a lovely colored lithographed frontispiece of song birds in a planted aviary.   12mo (17.1 x 11 cm); xii + 150 + (v)-xii + 142 + (v)-xii + 159 pp. + colored lithograph frontispiece.            Original cloth with gilt lettering on spine and upper cover; bumping to extremities, especially at head of spine and upper right corner. $175.00

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