The Private World of Tasha Tudor (Hardcover)

by Richard Brown (Author), Tasha Tudor (Author), Barbara Werden (Designer) "I always wanted to live in Vermont, and because I always get my own way, this is where I settled..." (more)
Key Phrases: New Hampshire, New England, Christmas Eve

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A passage into the private and anachronistic world of a favorite children's author and illustrator follows her throughout the seasons as she lives on her Vermont farm without electricity, plumbing, or other modern amenities. 30,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316112925
• ISBN-13: 978-0316112925
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #29,968 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a fantastic lady!, May 15, 1998

By A Customer

This is an absolutely wonderful book about a woman who lives her life as people did in the 1830s. She grows her own fruits and vegetables, preserves them, wears clothes that are either from the 1800s or like them, bakes her own bread, weaves, has a wonderful and lovely garden, raises birds, goats, and or course Corgis, and paints wonderful pictures for us all to enjoy. The photographs are beautiful, and the text provides some real food for thought. Really did love this book.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Vision of Creating the Life You Want, June 25, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Summary: Ms. Tasha Tudor always wanted "to live on a secluded farm . . . with a garden and a menagerie of household pets and barnyard animals, and to illustrate children's books." And that's exactly what she did. This gorgeous book lovingly displays her life and her illustrations while recounting her personal philosophy of living an 1830's style life.

Review: Ms. Tudor's "greatest pleasure is clearly her garden." After seeing the spectacular images of the blooms bursting from that rocky Vermont soil, your views of what can be done with gardens will be transformed forever. For example, she has over 1000 daffodils. The book also features many lovely still lifes featuring blossoms, as well as garden-focused landscapes.

Much of her life is home-spun, literally. She spins her own cloth, and makes her own clothes from it. The clothing she wears will remind you of the costumes you have seen at Colonial Williamsburg and Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. But these are her daily garb. She has carefully dressed the rest of her life to match her preferences, as well.

Walking barefoot through her home, she enjoys her exotic birds (especially the silly sayings from her parrots) and corgis. The book also shows many fine drawings of the corgis.

Cooking is also a great joy, and she makes her own preserves. She sees the opportunity to display "artistry as a cook."

As to the 1830's, she says that "I'm drawn to the old ways, convinced that I lived before, in the 1830's." "When I die, I'm going right back to 1830." Seeing her life portrayed here, you'll swear she never left. Seeing her in her home reminds me of Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts where the Alcott family lived in the 19th century. The wardrobe there contains dresses that the Alcott daughters used in their theatrical productions that also evoke the images in this wonderful book.

Her professional interest in illustration was stimulated by seeing the drawings in The Vicar of Wakefield. Through the time this book was written, she had illustrated more than 75 children's books. You will enjoy seeing her work in this book.

After you finish looking at the delightful images here, and being warmed by the thoughtful expression of a considered life, you should think about what elements would bring perfection to your life if you crafted it as carefully as an artist does a large marble sculpture. What do you need to chip away? What do you need to refine? Where should the sculpture be displayed?

Make living a wonderful art!

40 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All her books are great..this one is a gem, December 19, 2002

By	MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This was an early Christmas gift along with four other Tasha Tudor books and I LOVE it. Maybe because there is a bit of Tasha Tudor in me or because we live in a small cottage in the Sierras and have chickens, goats, vegetable, herb and flower gardens and love many of the same things she loves.

I like the fact that like Beatrix Potter another author I adore, she lives an authentic homestead life and loves her livestock, painting and making things with her hands. And I found some helpful tricks for catching the occasional mouse that gets in the place. And it is nice to read where someone else uses the good china daily and doesn't save it just for company. Or the joy of wearing clothes that some antique dealer would think are to valuable. And as she notes on page 112 "It satisfies me to spin and knit and weave. I love to be self sufficient, to learn how to make everything I use."

She speaks about and there are accompanying photos of the changes of seasons and the joys she encounters along the way. Her goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits and wild birds. Her cooking, spinning and how she plans for the joys in her life.

But I guess one thing I liked so much was her philosophy which she says comes in part from Henry David Thoreau and says "If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours." As she says "That is my credo. It is absolutely true. It is my whole life summed up."