DELILLE, (Jacques).   LES JARDINS.   Ou L'Art D' Embellir Les Paysages. Poeme.       Paris: Chapsal,   1844.          This enormously successful didactic poem, first published in 1782, presented an early and influential call for the rejection of the symmetry and regularity of the formal French style of gardening in favor of the irregular and "natural" jardin anglais. It went through many editions, but this one is of particular interest because, in addition to other significant additions, it appears to be the only edition to have included illustrations of actual gardens. These sixteen highly finished steel-engraved plates, drawn by Thénot and engraved by Aubert, along with sixteen engraved text illustrations, depict examples of French gardens from the late 18th and early 19th century which serve as examples of Delille's ideas. They include the Domaine Privé du Roi and the chateau de Villiers in Neuilly, Parc Monceau, Ermenonville and several other more obscure gardens of the same era. All of these gardens are described in an anonymous appendix entitled "Observations Sur Quelques Artifices Particuliers Employés Dans La Composition Des Jardins," which also offers an appreciation of Delille and instructive thoughts on garden design. The main text generally follows that of the revised 1801 edition of LES JARDINS, which included a significantly expanded preface in which, among other things, Delille responds to several of the critics his work had attracted. In addition to the usual end notes, this edition also provides variant readings from the original 1782 edition and useful notes contributed by the anonymous editor.   8vo (25.2 x 17.2 cm); (ii) + xxxi + 314 pp. with 18 wood-engraved text illustrations and vignettes + engraved title and 14 steel engraved plates.   Ganay 527.          Contempory cloth, faded and spotted; occasional light foxing (but not affecting the plates); pencil notes in the margins of the anonymous "Observations" noting the page numbers for the illustrations of the gardens referred to at that point in the text. $300.00

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