A landscape inventory

• In-folio (44,5 x 29,5 cm). Later binding (end XIXth century), tan half-chagrin, ribbed spine framed with gilt fillets, garnet morocco title label, 56 pp. of text followed by 57 plates lithographed by Motte, Bernard and Langlumé after Thouin, numbered 1 to 57 including an unnumbered plate between plates 25 & 26. Slightly rubbed nerves, small marginal foxing on the last plate, otherwise a set of great freshness. (ref. 110146)

First edition of one of the major treatises on the history of gardens. Main representative of the pre-Romantic era of the English garden and one of the most famous landscapers of his time, Gabriel Thouin (1747-1829), son of the head gardener of the Jardin des Plantes Jean-André Thouin and brother of the botanist André Thouin, worked at the Jardin des Plantes. In this beautiful work, Gabriel Thouin distinguishes four types of gardens: economic or vegetable gardens, fruit gardens or orchards, botanical gardens and pleasure gardens. He also lists the various kinds of factories (pagodas, aviaries, fountains, tombs, etc.) intended to adorn them.