"Gardens of Court and Country" by David Jacques

Gardens of Court and Country English Design 1630-1730 David Jacques

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Format:: Hardback
Publication date:: 11 Apr 2017
ISBN:: 9780300222012
Imprint:: Paul Mellon Centre
Dimensions:: 416 pages: 286 x 241mm
Illustrations:: 150 color + 150 b-w illus.
Sales territories:: World

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Gardens of Court and Country provides the first comprehensive overview of the development of the English formal garden from 1630 to 1730. Often overshadowed by the English landscape garden that became fashionable later in the 18th century, English formal gardens of the 17th century displayed important design innovations that reflected a broad rethinking of how gardens functioned within society. With insights into how the Protestant nobility planned and used their formal gardens, the domestication of the lawn, and the transformation of gardens into large rustic parks, David Jacques explores the ways forecourts, flower gardens, bowling greens, cascades, and more were created and reimagined over time. This handsome volume includes 300 illustrations – including plans, engravings, and paintings – that bring lost and forgotten gardens back to life.

David Jacques is an independent scholar and a consultant in historic landscapes, parks, and gardens.

“This is the book for which serious historians of garden history in this country have been waiting… the fruit of some four decades of both archival and on-the-ground research brought together in one magisterial work. The result is a triumph, and a publication that will remain a cornerstone of all future studies.”—Roy Strong, Country Life

“The book’s illustrations are astonishing. . . . The integration of visual and textual evidence allows many insights and discoveries.” —Tom Turner, Garden History

“While few of these high-maintenance gardens exist today, they are brought alive through contemporary engravings and Jacques’ text.”—Jane Owen, Financial Times

“The kind of companion a coffee table dreams about supporting: a comprehensive survey of 17th-century English formal gardens . . . This ‘visual record’ will make readers long to explore those bygone forecourts, flower gardens, bowling greens, cascades, and more.”—Steve Gutierrez, British Heritage Travel

“A landmark in Garden History studies.”—Georgina Craufurd, Hampshire Gardens Trust

"Jacques’s book brings a new, heavily documented and informed treatment to a topic that, as he ends by acknowledging, "recognizes the contribution" of many disciplines to its expanded field of enquiry."—John Dixon Hunt, Historic Gardens Foundation May 2017

‘The rewards are substantial for anyone interested in garden history or the wider aspects of social and political history.’ — Richard Bisgrove, The Garden, November 2017

‘This volume includes 300 illustrations that bring lost and forgotten gardens back to life.’ — Listed Heritage 115, November 2017

Recommended as one of the three books for gardeners by Ruth Pavey in the Ham and High, 30 November 2017
‘…a rich, scholarly and intriguing work’ — Ruth Pavey, Ham and High, 30 November 2017

‘[the book] provides the reader with a concentrated picture of an extensive subject, bringing together both the wider view across England and the illuminating detail which brings the subject to life.’ — Marilyn Brown, The Pleasaunce

Won the 2017 Choice Award for Outstanding Academic Title