Overview

A Cultural History of Gardens presents an authoritative survey from ancient times to the present. This set of six volumes covers over 2500 years of gardens as physical, social and artistic spaces. 1. A Cultural History of Gardens in Antiquity 2. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Medieval Age 3. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Renaissance 4. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Age of Enlightenment 5. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Age of Empire 6. A Cultural History of Gardens in the Modern Age Each volume discusses the same themes in its chapters: 1. Design 2. Types of Gardens 3. Planting 4. Use and Reception 5. Meaning 6. Verbal Representations 7. Visual Representations 8. Gardens and the Larger Landscape This structure means readers can either have a broad overview of a period by reading a volume or follow a theme through history by reading the relevant chapter in each volume. Superbly illustrated, the full six volume set combines to present the most authoritative and comprehensive survey available on gardens through history.

Full Product Details

9781847882653

Table of Contents

Reviews

Works of this stature and interest appear at rare intervals and this indeed is an eagerly anticipated moment and an achievement to savour... Mark Laird...marries detailed historical understanding of our garden plants with an empirical knowledge of their use... John Dixon Hunt [is] an outstanding scholar with wide interests, a firm institutional base, and one whose whole energy is focussed on the promotion of garden history. -- Christina Dyson & Richard Aitken * Australian Garden History * VERDICT A wonderful resource for people interested in landscape architecture or anyone looking for an in-depth exploration of the cultural significance of gardens. -- Susanne Caro, University of Montana Libary, Missoula * Library Journal * This crossdisciplinary set of six books is a much-needed cultural history of Eurocentric garden traditions from ancient times to today, offering readers glimpses into various past worlds and new views of their own ... [F]ascinating and informative ... Although the series primarily addresses itself to landscape architects and garden historians, it will prove rewarding for many others: historians, historians of art and literature, filmmakers, archaeologists, students of environmental history and the built environment, and amateur gardeners. And though analogous chapters across periods do not function identically, in general their complex tasks have been executed with clarity, intelligence, and grace. The project as a whole is well conceived and carried out. -- Mara Miller * Landscape Architecture Magazine *

Author Information

Michael Leslie is Professor of English at Rhodes College. He was founding co-editor of the Journal of Garden History (now Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes - SHGDL) and Senior Fellow in Landscape Architecture at Dumbarton Oaks (Harvard). John Dixon Hunt is Professor of Landscape Architecture at University of Pennsylvania. He was previously Director of Studies in Landscape Architecture at Dumbarton Oaks and is editor of the journal, SHGDL and series editor of the Penn Studies in Landscape Architecture.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available