Gardens

by Miles Hadfield

Front Cover:

This is a very lovely book about gardens. The book was published in 1962 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. The book measures 8 inches by 8 ½ inches and contains 128 pages. The book comes with a slip case which is printed exactly as the cover. The slip case shows signs of wear to the edges and is in good condition. The cover consists of paper covered pictorial hard boards. The cover shows no signs of wear to speak of. The spine is tight and the hinges are strong. The end pages have lovely pictorials. The pages show no signs of rips. exceptions noted, the overall condition of this book itself is very good plus to near fine.


Title Page - Verso

The table of contents is quite extensive. I will list only main chapter headings and would be glad to answer specific questions upon request.

Contents:

  1. Italy and Beyond
  2. France and Le Notre
  3. The Gothic North
  4. Oriental Interlude
  5. Le Jardin Anglais
  6. Nineteenth-Century Variety
  7. Greenhouses and Alpine Gardens


At the top of the picture opposite is the much admired casino, from the foot of which flows a water shoot, or catena d’acqua, flanked by the two gigantic river gods seen in closer detail in the illustration above.


Left: A derelict Japanese garden in Wales, swamped by polygonum
Below: The Chinese pagoda at Alton Towers, England


Schwetzingen, a German garden in the traditional French taste

Excerpt:
The pleasures of gardens – what, indeed, we must ask before we embark upon so substantial and yet so transient a matter, what are they and how should we discuss them? First, it seems, we should limit the subject and bring it within ease of comprehension by excluding the pleasures of gardening: no one discoursing on the pleasures of painting gives much space to their creation by the artist. It is the finished work as seen by the observer that counts. The pleasure that Louis’ XIV, instigator of one of the greatest of gardens, took in them is not, so far as I know, recorded: for him they were scenes for the great fetes in which Roi-Soliel was himself the centre of display. And of the mind and methods-let alone the feelings-of the genius who undertook them, Andre Le Notre, even less is known. We may turn to Dr. Martin Lister, who visited Paris in 1698, for a description of the enjoyment of them: their designer he found a charming and cultured old gentleman, surrounded and absorbed by his curios, medals and pictures but giving no clue to the nature and imagination of the mind that wrought Versailles…
End excerpt


Sissinghurst Castle, Kent. A famous garden made by V. Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson among the rose brick buildings of a Tudor house. The garden was not started until 1930 but already appears centuries old.

Price: $12.50
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