Chateau of Flowers: The Romantic Story of Lily of the Valley by Margaret Rome, Gilt-Stamped Green Harlequin Hardcover, 1971

The Piece

A slim hardcover bound in deep bottle green, the front board stamped in gilt with a single spray of lily of the valley — bells, buds, and two broad leaves — drawn as an open outline rather than a filled silhouette. The spray runs nearly the full height of the board and is the only ornament on it. There is no dust jacket.

The spine carries the same gilt work, set in three registers: the title and the line THE ROMANTIC STORY OF in small capitals, then Lily of the Valley in a flowing script, then ROME, and at the tail the Harlequin diamond colophon above the publisher's name.

Inside, the endpapers are pale sage. An engraved Ex Libris bookplate — an oval frame ruled for three lines, flanked at the base by winged classical heads and a swag of flowers, printed in green on cream — has been pasted to the front free endpaper and left blank. The text block is clean and bright, the paper cream and supple, the printing sharp.

History & Provenance

The copyright page settles the date without argument: CHATEAU OF FLOWERS, Copyright © MCMLXXI by Margaret Rome, Printed in U.S.A. That is 1971.

What makes the object worth keeping is that it is a hardcover at all. Harlequin built its business on mass-market paperbacks, and that is how nearly all of Margaret Rome's titles reached readers. Hardcover issues were produced in far smaller numbers, and this one was given decorative treatment the paperbacks never received: a flower subtitle worked into the title, gilt stamping on both board and spine, and a binding colour chosen to sit under the flower rather than compete with it.

Lily of the valley carries a long association with May and with spring weddings, and the binding leans on that association rather than on the novel — the flower is the cover, and the story is subtitled to match it.

There is no library stamp, card pocket, accession number, or ownership inscription anywhere in the book. The bookplate was pasted in by a previous owner and never filled out.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

Green books are the hardest colour to find and the most useful to own. A deep bottle-green spine does work on a shelf that no neutral can do: it anchors a run of tan and cream bindings, picks up a plant or a painting across the room, and reads as considered rather than decorative. This one earns its place twice over, because the gilt flower means it is worth turning face out.

It also works flat. Set it on a coffee table under a small bowl or a pair of reading glasses, stack it with two or three other cloth-bound books, or stand it on a nightstand. The gilt catches lamplight at close range in a way that printed jackets never do.

As a gift it is specific in a way that is hard to buy. Lily of the valley is the flower of May, a traditional wedding flower, and a common birth-month flower, and the book is old enough to feel like a found object rather than a purchase. The blank bookplate is still waiting for a name.

A note on care: keep it out of direct sun, which will fade a green binding faster than any other colour, and shelve it upright rather than leaning. Dust the boards with a dry soft cloth only — no cleaners, no damp cloth, and nothing on the gilt, which sits on the surface and will lift.