Browse a selection of our books on Garden History, Landscape Architecture and Early Horticulture….
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HISTOIRE ET CULTURE DES LYS.
Suivie D'Un Précis Sur La Culture Des Melons, Et Sur La Nature Des Sols Ainsie Que Des Engrais Qui Conviennent A Chacun D'Eux, Avec L'Époque Des Semis A Faire Mois Par Mois.
Paris: Chez M. Thiery, 1855. Thiery was a seedsman and nurseryman with gardens in Auteuil, near Paris. The first 55 pages are devoted to the primary work, an account of the history and culture of 59 varieties of lily. This is followed by a short manual on melon culture, a gardener's calendar, and a few other short essays on unrelated horticultural subjects. 12mo (18.9 x 11.3); 179 pp.
Original printed paper covers, personal ex-libris stamp at bottom margin of title page, occasional faint foxing; a very good copy.
Book ID: 15865More details Price: £150.00 -
JARDINS FRANÇAIS CRÉES A LA RENAISSANCE.
Paris: Éditions Vincent Fréal & Cie, 1955. First edition. A useful compilation of illustrations from early engravings, plans, drawings and contemporary photographs of important French gardens from the 15th through the early 17th centuries. Multiple views of Blois, Chenonceaux, Chambord, Fontainebleau, Anet, Vallery, Monceaux-Les-Meaux, Rosny, Saint-Germain-En-Laye and Richelieu are included accompanied by a short descriptive text. 4to (27.2 x 22 cm); 47 + (ii) pp. + 239 black and white plates from drawings, engravings, plans, photographs, etc.
Original printed paper covers; in glassine; fine.
Book ID: 14904More details Price: £50.00 -
CIVIC ART.
Studies In Town Planning, Parks, Boulevards and Open Spaces.
Original cloth gilt ruled and lettered on upper cover and spine, extremities very gently worn, slight separation of cloth along 2 inches of spine edge, else a very good copy.
Book ID: 15837More details Price: £450.00 -
CATALOGUE OF A HIGHLY IMPORTANT SALE OF A GRAND AND CHOICE COLLECTION OF ORCHIDS (cover title).
(New York). The printed catalogue of an orchid sale to be held on Wednesday, September 11, 1889, at Rolker & Sons sales room by order of Frederick Mau of Weehawken, New Jersey. The sale was comprised of "25 Grand and distinct Varieties of Cattleya Trianae with flower sheaths, C. Trianae Alba, C. Bogotensis Alba, Saccolabium giganteum Album," and much more. There are 326 lots listed, some with a bit of description, such as: CYPRIPEDIUM SEEGERIANUM: "Hybrid between Cypripedium Harrisianum and Cypripedium Spicerianum; only in a few collections can this superb Cypripedium be found..." Nineteenth century orchid auction catalogues are quite uncommon. Stitched pamphlet 22 x14.5 cm.,18 pp.
Scattered light to moderate foxing to text.
Book ID: 15880More details Price: £250.00 -
THESIS: PLANS FOR THE BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS OF A RURAL HOME.
Bound in blue buckram with gilt lettered and decorated leather title piece pasted down on upper cover; tissue guards removed from three of the photographs, but kept and laid into the book; a few of the photographs show some spots from development process and there is occasional light fading, mostly along edges; otherwise very well preserved.
Book ID: 16007More details Price: £345.00 -
TRAITÉ DE LA CULTURE DES PLANTES DE TERRE DE BRUYERE
Et Généralement De Tous Les Végétaux De La Nature Des Genres ERICA, EPACRIS, AZALEA, RHODODENDRUM, CAMELLIA, KALMIA, ANDROMEDA, etc.
Paris: Librairie Horticole de H. Cousin, 1844. First edition. An uncommon handbook on the propagation of heath plants by seed, layering and cutting, for cultivation in temperate climates, in the orangerie and in the open heath. Pacquet, was a gardener, secretary of the Cercle général d'horticulture and editor of the JOURNAL D'HORTICULTURE PRATIQUE. Acknowledging Great Britain as the prolific source for heathers, Paquet proceeds to a descriptive list of over six hundred varieties, followed by chapters on cultivating varieties of azalea and rhododendrum. Chapters on older and newer varieties of camellias follow, with over 125 in a descriptive listing. The text concludes with kalmias and epicris. Erica, Azalea, Rhododendrum, Camellia... 12mo (17.6 x 10.6 cm); xx + 339 + (1) pp. + 4 pp. ads. with a small engraved text illustrations.
Contemporary quarter art vellum back, marbled paper over boards, art vellum corners, some paper scraped away on lower cover; printed title label on spine, darkened with old ink stains, also on vellum; internally very good.
Book ID: 16132More details Price: £100.00 -
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS FOR EIGHTEEN YEARS,
(Since Organization of Board in April, 1890)
Davenport, Iowa, (1909). A history, by way of official minutes, of the Davenport city parks, including accounts of the use of Central Park and the acquistion and use of Fejervary Park. With 16 full page photographs of entrance ways, lakes, the greenhouse, the Inn at Fejervary, terraces, etc. and three of animals at the park including the Cinnamon Bears, Teddy and Carrie. Stapled pamphlet (8vo), 23.5 x 5.5 cm., 36 ff. with text and full page illustrations from photographs printed on rectos only.
Original stiff paper covers with embossed title and design on upper cover.
Book ID: 16008More details Price: £60.00 -
REPORT OF THE BOARD OF PARK COMMISSIONERS OF KANSAS CITY, MO.
For The Fiscal Year Ending April 16th, 1906, With Other Information Regarding The Park System.
(Kansas City, 1906). With a ten-page report prepared by George Kessler, the city's landscape architect. Kessler designed the first park system for Kansas City in 1893. This is the first commission report since that year, and most of Kessler's report recounts the progress made on the city's parks during the intervening period. 8vo (23.4 x 15.5 cm); 72 pp. with numerous half-tone illustrations + folding map and folding chart.
Paper shelf label on backstrip and shelf numbers written in ink on front cover, fly leaf and title; otherwise well preserved.
Book ID: 15253More details Price: £80.00 -
COLO. BEAUTIES (cover title).
(Colorado): n.d. ( ca. 1900 ). A very well preserved souvenir album of collected Colorado wild flowers bound in a hand-painted, ribbon-tied binding. Below each of the twelve preserved specimens the plant’s popular name, botanical name and a reference (Torrey, Gray, etc) are hand-written in pen. We have seen similar, though not identical bindings for botanical collecting in Colorado, suggesting that these (blank) notebooks were available to tourists hiking the fields, meadows, etc. 19.2 x 10.7 cm; 12 leaves of heavy stock with mounted natural specimens and hand-written identifications on rectos only.
Original hand-painted dark boards with ribbon ties, ties gently frayed, but intact; all edges gauffered and gilt; leaves with specimens fresh and clean, with only the occasional small segment of a specimen lacking.
Book ID: 16154More details Price: £250.00 -
BESCHREIBUNG DES LUSTSCHLOSSES UND GARTENS SR. KÖNIGL. HOHEIT DES PRINZEN HEINRICHS, BRUDERS DES KÖNIGS, ZU REINSBERG.
Wie auch der Stadt und der Gegend um dieselbe.
Berlin, Freidrich Nicolai, 1778, (1991). Facsimile reprint of this 18th century guide book to the royal gardens at Rheinsberg located northwest of Berlin. 12mo (17 x 10 cm); 95 pp. + folding plan of the garden loosely inserted.
Original paper-covered boards.
Book ID: 15145More details Price: £12.00 -
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FORMATION AND CULTURE OF THE TREE ROSE.
London: J. Hatchard and Son, 1828. First edition. The unidentified author of this little instruction manual acknowledges his indebtedness to a French pamphlet ( see Stock reference to Tarade, Alfred de, CULTURE DES ROSIERS ECUSSONES SUR EGLANTIERS ). This is a very detailed horticultural instruction manual which, in reprinting its 1830 second edition in 1844, the GARDENER’S CHRONICLE identified as “the best work on the cultivation of the tree rose...” (see Stock 2280 and 2281). d With a signature in pencil, “J.C. Loudon” on front flyleaf. J.C. Loudon’s copy? Stock 2279 12mo (17.5 x 10 cm); xv + (i) + (1)-91 +(3) pp. with 24 text figures, decorative vignette on title page.
Original two-toned paper over boards, soiled and edgeworn; original printed title label on spine partially preserved; some browning to text (from dampness?) and foxing commencing; boards ever so slightly warped; traces of pencil marks here and there, especially at back. Child's pencil drawing on the blank verso of one leaf.
Book ID: 16151More details Price: £200.00 -
L'ART DE CULTIVER LES FLEURS ET PLANTES D'APPARTEMENTS.
Et De Les Faire Servir A La Décoration De L'Intérieur.
Paris: Librairie Renouard, n.d. (ca, 1900). A turn-of-the-century manual on floral decoration and floral arrangement for the private home. Various types of flowers and plants suitable to interior decoration and cultivation are discussed, along with appropriate vases, baskets, corsages, bouquets, etc. The decoration of windows and balconies is treated, as is the decoration of the table with seasonal fruits. Additionally, the choice of flowers and plants for different months of the year is noted, along with a choice of flowers to be used decoratively at religious feasts. A list of Parisian flower markets with their locations and days of operation is also included. 8vo (17.2 x 11 cm); 123 + (1) pp. with wood engraved text illustrations.
Original printed paper covers, soiled, older paper label covered lower spine and interior corners of covers, scattered foxing to text.
Book ID: 16117More details Price: £30.00 -
FONTES D'ART ET DE BATIMENT. BRONZES D'ART ET ACIERS MOULÉS.
Paris, 1903. General illustrated catalogue from the most prominent French decorative iron foundry of the period. Of particular interest for the numerous examples of statuary, fountains, vases and other cast iron garden ornaments and furnishings which are illustrated by over 38 pages. The remainder of the catalogue is devoted to the full range of ornamental ironwork such as grills, columns, finials, staircase railings, moldings, mantels, lamp posts, crosses, religious statuary, etc. etc. Oblong 8vo (15.7 x 24.5 cm); 194 pp. (unnumbered).
Original paper wraps, soiled, joints weak; text paper somewhat browned, first signature starting a bit.
Book ID: 15425More details Price: £195.00 -
THE PRINCE OF PALMS.
London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, (1884). First edition thus. A very readable text on the nature, location, and rise of Cocos Nucifera - the Prince of Palms- as the foundation of the author’s family’s highly successful cocoanut fibre works, Messrs. Treloar & Sons. A “From Tree To Factory” story. With a handsome chromolithographed frontispiece reproducing a painting of the inflorescence of the cocoa nut palm and ripe nuts by the artist, Miss Fenn. OCLC lists 5 copies in the U.K.; 2 in Australia; 4 in the U.S. Tall 8vo (24.5 x 15.5 cm); color lithograph frontispiece by W.H. & L Collingridge City Press + 50 pp. with text illustrations and some full page plates.
Original red cloth with gilt ruled frame on upper covers, gilt title and gilt stamped vignette on upper cover; cloth darkened at extremities and spine, slight wear and bumping to extremities; tissue guard to color frontispiece is lightly foxed, gently affecting title page but leaving the color frontispiece fresh and bright.
Book ID: 16184More details Price: £100.00 -
RAPPORT SUR LES PARCS ET JARDINS DE VICHY.
Orleans: Imprimerie Georges Michau, 1892. A short descriptive account of the gardens of Vichy, France, written by the librarian of the horticultural society of Orleans after his recent visit there. Pamphlet, 8vo (24 x 15.5 cm); 8 pp.
Original printed paper wraps.
Book ID: 15709More details Price: £25.00 -
DAS ACHILLES-SCHLOSS AUF CORFU.
Vienna: Verlag Von Carl Gerold's Sohn, 1896. The Villa Achilleion on the island of Corfu was built for the Empress Elisabeth of Austria in 1891. The house and its gardens were designed for her by Alexander von Warsberg, the Austrian consul in Corfu and one of the leading experts of his day on the history and art of ancient Greece. Achilleion, built upon a high mount with spectacular views of the Mediterranean, became for a short while an idyllic escape for the romantic and fanciful empress. Christomanos's effusive text describing the villa is accompanied by photographs of the house, gardens, interiors and extensive collection of statuary. Oblong 4to (24.6 x 32); 64 (+ 2) pp. with numerous illustrations + 13 color tinted plates from photographs.
Original cloth-backed, paper covered boards with photochrome illustration on upper cover, design on lower cover; a fine copy in browned glassine and lightly soiled original slipcase with printed label "Emballage zu Das Achilles-Schloss auf Corfu."
Book ID: 16382More details Price: £260.00 -
JE FAIS MES JOUETS AVEC DES PLANTES.
Créations des Enfants de L’INSTITUT BAKULÉ présentées par le Père Castor.
Original printed paper covers, some light scattered soiling, a bit heavier on lower cover; internally fresh and bright with one page only showing a bit of light scuffing; closed tear in margin only in one page; two tiny pin prinks on collophon; a small bump or impression that disappears mid-text; over all a very well preserved copy.
Book ID: 16372More details Price: £110.00 -
OBSERVATIONS SUR LA NOMENCLATURE ET LE CLASSEMENT DES ROSES,
Suivies Du Catalogue de Celles Cultivées Par J.-P. Vibert at Saint-Denis...
Later binding in marbled paper over boards with gilt lettered red leather title piece on spine, new endpapers; some light browning to title page, a bit throughout text, as well; text impression of verso sometimes shows through on rectos. Well preserved.
Book ID: 16375More details Price: £300.00 -
40 AGRICULTURAL COTTAGES IN CORNWALL.
With three tears, closed, in the sheet, and some rubbing at ink title on the bottom of the drawing. In a recent matt mounting. Very good.
Book ID: 16318More details Price: £275.00 -
L'ILLUSTRATION / LA MAISON.
In original paper covers printed in colors; a bit of thumbing on a double page spread of a chart in the text and slight loss of margin only, text not affected, at that point; else a very fine copy.
Book ID: 16165More details Price: £80.00