WATELET, (Claude-Henri).   ESSAI SUR LES JARDINS.       &nbspParis: chez Prault,   1774.          First edition of "The first French book on picturesque gardening... (It) occupies a position in the forefront of the development of French picturesque gardening design and theory." (Wiebenson. THE PICTURESQUE GARDEN IN FRANCE, pp. 64-5). Watelet was a financier, artist, poet and aesthetic theorist whose own garden at Moulin Joli, begun in the 1750s on a natural and picturesque site on three small islands in the river Seine, near Paris, was among the earliest and most significant French gardens laid out in the natural style. Watelet was a central figure in an important artistic and literary circle which included Francois Boucher, Hubert Robert, d'Alembert, and Vigée-Lebrun. These were frequent visitors to Moulin-Joli, which was also visited by Marie Antoinette (while she was still planning her Hameau), Walpole, De Lille, and De Ligne, among others. Watelet describes the garden in the last 23 pages of his ESSAI. There is also a lengthy description of a Chinese garden (based on Liu-Chou's ESSAI SUR LES JARDINS DES CHINOIS).   8vo (19.3 x 12.5 cm); (iv) + 160 pp +(iv) pp. with engraved title page vignette, one decorative chapter head piece, and chapter tail pieces.   Ganay 82; Berlin Cat. 34.          Contemporary marbled paper covers dog-earred, spine perished; internally, sewing firm, light foxing to preliminaries only. $700.00

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