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First The Hague edition of one of the most popular general handbooks on garden architecture of the 18th century

DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE, Antoine -Joseph.
La theorie et la pratique du jardinage. Ou l'on traite a fond des beaux jardins, appellés communément les Jardins de proprieté, comme sont les parterres, les bosquets, les boulingrins, &c. contenant plusieurs plans et dispositions generales de jardins; nouveaux desseins de parterres, de bosques, de boulingrins, labirinthes, sales, galeries, portiques & cabinets de treillages, terrasses, escaliers, cascades, & autres ornemens servant à la decoration &  embélissement des jardins. Avec la Maniere de dresser un terrain, de le couper en terrasses, & d'y tracer & executer toutes sortes de desseins, suivant les principes de la geometrie; & la méthode de planter & élever en peu de tems tous les plants  qui conviennent aux beaux jardins; comme aussi celle de rechercher les eaux, de les conduire dans les jardins.


Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces.

Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces.

Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces.

Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces.

Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces.



The Hague, Pierre Husson, 1711. 2 parts in one. Large 4to. Contemporary sprinkled calf; spine richly gilt in compartments with red title label lettered in gold, gilt binding edges. Title printed in red and black, and 32 large double-page engraved plates by J. Lamsvelt (only 3 of the plates are signed by him), 17 woodcut illustrations in the text, engraved head- and tail-pieces. (12), 208 pp.

The first edition of the four pirated editions of this famous work, published by the Husson publishing house in The Hague. The original edition of this very popular handbook on designing and planning a beautiful garden, commonly called pleasure-garden, and the lay-out of the grounds according to geometrical principles and the law of perspective, was published only two years before in 1709 by Jean Mariette in Paris. This pirated edition of 1711 is a page-for-page reprint of that first edition. During the 18th century the work was republished many times: in Paris by the well-known publishers Jean and later by his son Pierre Jean Mariette (1709, 1713, 1722, 1747, 1760, etc.); and the pirated editions by Pierre and later Johannes M. Husson in The Hague (1711 (our copy), 1715, 1725 and 1739). The third  edition of 1722 was erroneously published under the name of Alex Le Blond, who only had provided the engravings for that edition (which was corrected by the Paris publisher in a new issue of the third edition in 1732, and fully explained in the preface to the fourth edition of 1747. An English translation by the noted London architect John James appeared in 1712 as the first important book on garden design to appear in England in the 18th century; a German translation was published in 1731. Also in recent times the book is reprinted several times.
The book was published anonymously, but is certainly written by Antoine Nicolas Dézallier d'Argenville (1680-1765), a French naturalist, engraver and writer on art. His treatise popularized the manner of Le Nôtre and his school in the laying out of ornamental gardens: parterres, mazes, garden buildings, bosquets, fountains, basins and cascades. So, it is especially valuable as a record of the manner of gardening as practised by the famous Le Nôtre. It introduced f.e. the concept of the 'ha-ha', a dry ditch with a raised retaining wall, used to conceal the boundaries of an estate or a landscape, and anticipated Pope's famous dictum on the 'genius of the place' by saying that the designer of the gardens should never swerve from reason, but constantly conform 'to that which suits best with the natural situation'.
The work must have been the inspiration of many formal gardens designed in England during the early part of the 18th century. Stephan Witzer considered it to be the most important on the subject. He stated in 1715: "The theory and practice of gard'ning, is esteemed in its way, the best that has appeared in this or any other language, and seems to be the best-laid design, and carried on with the most judgment'.

Very good copy, from the library of John Ward.- (Title-page sl. soiled, binding sl. rubbed).
Oxford Comp. to Gardens, p. 142-3; Blanche Henry, Brit. Bot. and horticult. lit., p. 491-5; cf. Plesch, p. 199.

Related Subjects: 18th Century  France  Gardens  Netherlands 

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