A collection of Hunt's essays, many previously unpublished, dealing with the ways in which men and women have given meaning to gardens and landscapes, especially with the ways in which gardens have represented the world of nature "picturesquely".

The author traces the rise of the picturesque garden in England and throughout Europe, exploring intricate dialogues between practical place-making and the theoretical formulations of the picturesque. He surveys a wide range of sites - Rousham, Stourhead, Kew, Hestercombe, The Leasowes, Hafod, Ermenonville, Désert de Retz among others - and the contributions to their creation by both amateurs and professionals. The impact on European countries of the English example was complicated by the parallel rise of a picturesque garden in France, which had its own cultural direction even while it looked to England and China for inspiration. Finally, the book analyses and assesses the impact of English and French design upon other countries, in particular Sweden, the German-speaking lands and Russia.

Published in 1774, Essay on Gardens is one of the earliest texts showing the progressive shift in French taste from the classical model of the gardens at Versailles to the picturesque or natural style of garden design in the late eighteenth century. In this formulation of his ideas concerning landscape, Claude-Henri Watelet describes an ideal farm and also his own very real garden, Moulin Joli, near Paris. He advances the theory that the useful and the pleasurable must be combined in the planning, preservation, and decoration of the land by offering a relatively novel design that uses experimental methods to create a comfortable estate. The result is a horticultural and ecological laboratory that includes a residence, a farm, stables, a dairy, an apiary, a mill, walks, vistas, flower beds, an area reserved for medicinal plants, decorative statues, a medical laboratory, and even a small infirmary for ailing members of the community. Given the wide scholarly interest in the field of garden design and its history, this first English edition of Watelet's small but influential book will interest historians of landscape design as well as students of the history of architecture. Joseph Disponzio's informative introduction to Samuel Danon's masterful translation situates the Essay on Gardens within the framework of other landscape and garden treatises of the late eighteenth century. Although the original text was not illustrated, this edition includes a selection of charming drawings and etchings of Moulin Joli by Watelet himself, Hubert Robert, and others.

The Morgan Library Museum has assembled an impressive array of trend-setting texts and outstanding works of art that reveal the origins and impact of the stylistic innovations of the Romantic Garden, in a broad cultural context, roughly from 1700 to 1900. Romantic Gardens provides a compelling overview of these groundbreaking ideas and shows how they were implemented in private estates and public parks in England, France, Germany, and America.

A Japanese garden is immediately distinct to the eye from the traditional gardens of an English manor house, just as the manicured topiaries of Versailles contrast with the sharp cacti of the American Southwest. Though gardening is beloved the world over, the style of gardens themselves varies from region to region, determined as much by culture as climate. In this series of illustrated essays, John Dixon Hunt takes us on a world tour of different periods in the making of gardens. Hunt shows here how cultural assumptions and local geography have shaped gardens and their meaning. He explores our continuing responses to land and reworkings of the natural world, encompassing a broad range of gardens, from ancient Roman times to early Islamic and Mughal gardens, from Chinese and Japanese gardens to the invention of the public park and modern landscape architecture. A World of Gardens looks at key chapters in garden history, reviewing their significance past and present and tracing the recurrence of different themes and motifs in the design and reception of gardens throughout the world. A World of Gardens celebrates the idea that similar experiences of gardens can be found in many different times and places, including sacred landscapes, scientific gardens, urban gardens, secluded gardens, and symbolic gardens. Featuring two hundred images, this book is a treasure trove of ideas and inspiration, whether your garden is a window box, a secluded backyard, or a daydream.

A celebration of a beloved and uniquely British garden style. The cottage garden's abundant, informal style is rooted in Victorian dreams of a perfect country life. But it has found new expressions from the Arts & Crafts movement to the present day. This book showcases a selection of National Trust cottage gardens, famous and obscure, including writer Thomas Hardy’s cottage in Dorset; the flower-filled cottage garden created at Sissinghurst, Kent, by Vita Sackville-West and harold Nicolson; the Tudor manor Cothele in Cornwall, Beatrix Potter's Cumbrian home, Hill Top, and the picturesque Alfriston Clergy House in East Sussex. Cottage Gardens also features some of the most famous non-National Trust examples from around the country, including Kelmscott Manor, Dove Cottage and Eastgrove Cottage Garden. With practical advice on creating your own cottage garden, including key plants and techniques, this is a wonderful companion for all garden enthusiasts. With climbing roses, bright hollyhocks, pathways edged with honeysuckle, blossom-filled orchards and wildflower meadows, this is the perfect book to capture the idyllic British country garden.

The Description for this book, The Picturesque Garden in France, will be forthcoming.