La Theorie et la Pratique du Jardinage...

1747. DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE. La Theorie, et la Pratique du Jardinage.[12], 482, [2] pp. With 49 engraved plates (mostly folding), plus several woodcut diagrams and illustrations. 4to, 266 x 196 mm., bound in contemporary French calf, spine gilt, red edges. Paris: chez Pierre-Jean Mariette, rue S. Jacques, aux Colonnes d'Hercules, 1747. A fine copy of the fourth edition in French (first published 1709), enlarged throughout, and containing a new treatise on flowers and orange trees. Dezallier's Theorie et la Pratique du Jardinage is the major work on the theoretical aspects of eighteenth-century gardening. The evolution and design of Pleasure Gardens would be entirely different had this work not been written and so often and widely published. It codified the French Formal Garden style in the spirit of Le Nôtre. Dezallier's work owes its widespread reputation to the creative use of natural and ornamental elements. The text concentrates on the use of bridges, colonnades, and trellises in the design of the garden, as well as the use of groves, mazes, parterres, bosquets, and fountains. Dezallier gives specific information on the construction of each, offering practical advice on how to integrate these elements into overall garden design. This edition is embellished with forty-nine engraved plates and numerous textual illustrations. According to the 'Avis' in the 1747 Paris edition, most of the drawings for the plates were provided by Alexandre Le Blond (1679-1719), a French architect who studied under Le Nôtre. A couple of plates browned and slight damage to the spine, but overall an acceptable copy. Cf. Hunt 471; Berlin Katalog 3463; Barbier IV, 706; Plesch 199; Lindley 114.