THOUIN (Gabriel). Plans Raisonnés de Toutes les Espèces de Jardins.1823

Paris: Lebègue, Second edition, folio, half-title, [2], 56 (pages 29-32 misbound after page 36), [2, errata leaf]pp. 57 lithographed plates, orig. boards, rubbed at extremities, with a rather crude cloth reback. The second edition of these interesting and beautiful designs for landscaped gardens, by Gabriel Thouin (1747-1829), brother of the celebrated botanist André Thouin to whom the work is dedicated. Strongly influenced by contemporary English garden designs and the idea of the "picturesque", these parks are noteworthy for their elegance and ease which retains some of the great French tradition of formal gardening. There are designs for municipal and private parks and also for fruit gardens, orangeries, vegetable plantations etc. The margins of the plates, beautifully lithographed by C. Motte, show designs for buildings meant to adorn the gardens; among the more exotic there are several ruins, both classical and mediaeval, Chinese pavilions, arabic coffee houses, pagodas and a host of other small buildings and garden ornaments. Johnston, The Cleveland Herbal, Botanical and Horticultural Collections, 838 (First Edition).