[Whately, Thomas:] l’Art de former les jardins modernes ou l’art des jardins anglois. Traduit de l’Anglois. À quoi le traducteur a ajouté un discours préliminaire sur l’origine de l’art, des notes sur le texte, & une description détaillée des Jardins de Stowe, accompagnée du plan. Paris, Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1771, pp. [i*], lxiv, 404, (2, privilege), engraved folding plan of Stowe, 8vo (120 x 195 mm), contemporary mottled calf, richly gilt-decorated spine with raised bands and lettered morocco label (top spine chipped). Nice copy. € 1.100 "Whately, Thomas (d. 1772), was an English politician who occupied minor positions, … He is not known to have designed or advised on the making of any gardens, but his anonymously published Observations on Modern Gardening, Illustrated by Descriptions (1770, 5th edn. 1793) was of considerable influence on two accounts. It contains detailed descriptions of the most outstanding examples of the English landscape garden, such as at Hagley Hall, The Leasowes, Painshill, Woburg Farm, and Stowe - descriptions of great value today as many of these gardens no longer exist or are sadly altered. His book was much used in his own day as a guide for foreign travellers (it soon appeared in French and German translations). Of equal importance was its vindication of the claim made in its opening sentence: ‘Gardening, in the perfection to which it has been lately brought in England, is entitled to a place of considerable rank among the liberal arts.’ His claim met with ready acceptance among his French readers … and he undoubtedly was a formative influence upon the development of the jardin anglais" (Jellicoe). The book was translated into French by François-de-Paule Latapie. He added to it a description of Stowe with a plan of 1763, and a Discours préliminaire of 59 pages, summarizing the history of gardens. * Springer p. 60 (by error naming Wheatly); Henrey II pp. 509-511; Ganay 87; Jellicoe pp. 330 (Latapie) & 602. www.meemelink.com  |  gardens