LANGLEY, Batty.   NEW PRINCIPLES OF GARDENING:   or, The Laying Out And Planting Parterres, Groves, Wildernesses, Labyrinths, Avenues, Parks, &c. After A More Grand And Rural Manner, Than Has Been Done Before; With Experimental Directions For Raising The Several Kinds Of Fruit-Trees, Forest-Trees, Ever-Greens And Flowering-Shrubs With Which Gardens Are Adorn'd....    London: A Bettesworth and J. Batley,   1728.          First edition. Batty Langley is probably best known as the prolific author of a series of popular architectural pattern books and builders' manuals, but his contribution to the early literature of gardening was no less important. As the son of a Twickenham gardener who began his own career as a gardener, landscape gardener and surveyor, it is not surprising that several of his earliest publications were devoted to gardens, horticulture and the related arts of geometry and surveying. His NEW PRINCIPLES OF GARDENING is the most significant of these, notable in particular for its prominent role in the early development of the English landscape garden. It appeared at a moment when the tide of elite dissatisfaction with the formal garden was beginning to swell, but the principles for a contrasting "natural" style of garden design had not yet been formulated. Thus, in what he writes, Langley is more forceful in his criticism of the regularity and monotony of existing gardens than he is in describing the destinctive features of the "irregular" gardens with which he proposed to replace them. His greatest interest seems to have been in the introduction of the element of surprise within the garden, with emphasis placed on the value of unexpected vistas or garden features encountered while walking through the garden. He also makes extensive use of the serpentine path to bring irregularity into his designs. But Langley's greatest talents were those of the designer and draftsman rather than theorist, and these find their fullest expression in the fascinating series of engraved garden plans which he produced to accompany his text. "Inventiveness runs rampant in his designs for serpentines; he 'confounds, surprises, varies, and conceals the bounds' beyond Pope's wildest dreams. His writhing walks - guaranteed to prevent the ambulator from ever knowing where he is or whether he has been there before - provide relief from the boredom and expense of long, straight avenues and rigid, radiating arms... Although designed by art and geometry to imitate nature, they are just as un-natural as knotted parterres and are similarly disposed in axial compositions. They epitomize Pevsner's definition of the rococo, 'the wiggly, puny, playful' transition between the formal and landscape styles... " (Harris. BRITISH ARCHITECTURAL BOOKS AND WRITERS, pg 263). For all the novelty of Langley's labyrinthine plans, however, much of his book is still derived from established conventions. The irregular pathways which squirm within his groves are organized within a formal and generally symmetrical framework. Geometry remains at its core; indeed the first two sections are devoted entirely to this subject. There are plates depicting elaborate trellis work and a classical fountain and cascade "after ye grand manner at Versailles." He provides extensive instructions on the appropriate placement of statuary within the garden and includes a plate depicting an improved version of the Labyrinth of Versailles. There are also examples of Roman ruins, copied from Sandrart, suitable for erecting (or painting on canvas) at the end of a walkway to conceal an ugly view. The subject matter of NEW PRINCIPLES, however, was not confined to just the laying out of gardens. Like all of his other works, its primary purpose was practical rather theorectical. For this reason, the largest portion of the text is devoted to horticultural subjects, including large separate chapters devoted to fruit trees, forest trees, evergreens, and flowering shrubs. There is also a separate section, with its own pagination, devoted entirely to the kitchen garden. The comprehensiveness of the text - instructions for landscape gardening and horticulture within the same book - is unusual, if not unique, among English garden manuals of the 18th century. That it may not have been commercially successful is suggested by the fact that the book was reissued in 1739 in the form of a "second edition" made up from the original sheets with a cancelled title page. It is interesting to note, however, that George Washington owned a copy and apparently used it in designing the gardens at Mount Vernon.   4to (27.2 x 18.7); (ii) + xxiv + 207 + 192 pp. + 28 engraved plates   Henrey 927; Hunt 472; Harris 462; Berlin Cat. 3414; Nissen 1136; Cleveland 363.          Contemporary full calf, rebacked, with original spine preserved and a few skillfull restorations at corners; later end papers; dampstain along inner margin of a few leaves near the beginning and end of volume; old tear on one leaf involving minor loss of text in a section describing varieties of parsley. $5,500.00

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