William Thompson Esq. The Walton Grange Gardens Stone Staffordshire 1898

22pp, 6 colour litho plates. Tall 4to. Lettered wrappers. Warappers a little worn. Staples slightly rusted else good. Sale conduced by Potheroe & Morris, Horticultural Auctioneers and Valuers. May 11th and 12th 1898. Lewis Castle, in his book on "Orchids, Their structure, history and culture" lists Thompson in his inventory of the principal amateur ochardists in Britain 1886. One or two red ink notes on prices on the first illustration.

Chichester, Phillimore 1990

262pp illustrated with b/w plates. Fine in dust wrapper. Readable account of the estate and mansion drawing on contemporary accounts and archival material. Extensive material on the work of the Bridgewater - the Canal Duke - with a chapter on the gardens and park including details of the work of Repton. Brown is responsible for the "golden valley" at Ashridge, made in a narrow dry valley edged with curving woodland at its edges. Useful overview on the history of the estate.

London: J. Robson and Hereford D Walker 1794 -1798

First editions: First volume: xv, 288pp. A key contribution to the picturesque controversy that developed at the end of the 18th century on the merits of the picturesque style of landscape gardening in contrast to the naturalistic styles of Capability Brown and Humphrey Repton. Price advocates here his first statements of the picturesque ideal [after William Gilpin's works on the subject], reconciling Burke and Sir Joshua Reynolds for the first time. Bound with volume 2 "Essays on the Picturesque... "Hereford: D. Walker, 1798 [First edition of additional material on the subject comprising Essay on artificial water. Essay on decorations. Essay on architecture and buildings.]. Title, xxvi + [2]pp,432pp. Full calf, rebacked with gilt decorated spine, raised bands and gilt decorated red spine label. Marbled end papers. Armourial bookplate of William Phelps. Very good copy. The volumes together are considered a primary document for revealing Price's views on the Picturesque Controversy raging at the time amongst leading landscape designers in Britain.

London E. Lloyd and Son 1829

Second edition revised. Volume I, xilvii + 333 pages Volume 2 viii + 423pp + full index. Quarter calf, marbled boards. Missing title label on volume 1. Tooled spines. Henry Phillips (1775?-1838) was both a Fellow of the Royal Horticultural Society, and the Linnaean Society. Popular writer on horticulture.

Schweinsburg-Crimmtschau Oscar Mehlhorn, printed by Graphische Kunstanstalt Conrad Missbach, Gössnitz c.1906

162pp, 3 b/w figures, 11 b/w illustrations, 62 b/w diagrams, 14 b/w photographs, 2 monochrome photographs, 2 colour illustrations, 21 colour drawings. oblong 8vo. wrappers. one word of possibly the name of the publisher or the placename rubbed out on front wrapper, else vg indeed. The well-known and respected Mehlhorn company for hothouses and heating systems was awarded gold medals at international horticultural exhibitions in Düsseldorf and Chemnitz in 1904 and 1905. In this brochure, Oscar Mehlhorn explains the mechanics of his heating system for hothouses and has selected a variety of examples of large hothouses for horticultural businesses and nurseries as well as stately houses and he presents conservatories added to domestic homes. A richly illustrated and beautifully presented survival and a fascinating glimpse into the history of the Mehlhorn company.

8pp illustrated with b/w plates. Pencil prices given for some lots which made up the small estate. Large colour fold out plan at the end showing the extent of the estate for sale at the time

nd c1869-1875

Weeks & Co, Kings Road, Chelsea, London ..... 'Horticultural Builders and Warming Engineers. Perspective view of the conservatory in pen and ink 350x580mm + two plans and a sectional drawing each 300x500mm, unframed. Major Nathaniel Bousfield, MP for Bath lived for a few years at Parkside in a house designed by J. S. Crowther for Robert Crewsden, a textile manufacturer from Alderley Edge where Crowther was based. Crowther is probably best known for his restoration work at Manchester Cathedral. He built a fine gothic revival house in 1865. The Crewsden family sold the property to Bousfield in 1869 but they sold it on in 1875 dating these drawings between these two dates. Superb pen and ink perspective and one plan which documents the floor plan with plants in situ. Beautifully executed. Weeks & Co are are well known firm and were working from the 1820s on glass houses. By 1818 they had established a nursery in London but soon developed both a system of hot houses and heating systems for them using steam. The firm had various financial ups and downs but after 1840 they grew from strength to strength. In 1853 designed the Grand Winter Garden at Chelsea to promote the firm and act as a second Crystal Palace for London. Surviving plans for domestic hot houses rarely appear on the market for sale. There are plans for Ingestree Hall by Weeks in Staffordshire Record Office and other sets for sites in Suffolk and Herefordshire.

London B T Batsford (1900) Revised fourth edition 1912

x + 404+ pp. index, with 432 figures including more than 400 b&w plates (from photos, plans and drawings of gardens), also including 5 full page color plates from watercolors by E.A. Rowe and E.A. Chadwick; photographic end-papers' Folio. Green gilt decorated cloth. Coth slightly browned on spine else a very good copy indeed. A desirable edition recording the projects and setting out the principles of landscape design as interpreted by one of the most influential garden designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Dedication copy from Thomas Mawson to his pupil J. Grant Brown signed and dated Thomas Mawson 24th December 1912.

London The Architectural Press 1973

136pp illustrated with b/w photographs. small 4to cloth boards in illustrated dust wrapper, chipped at the top edge, preserved in plastic sleeve. Pioneering book, looks at the changing nature + scale of the urban garden due to the scarcity + increasing expense of urban space. Includes sections on courtyards, the outdoor room, entrances/pathways, roofs etc.

Cambridge, Mass, MIT Press 1988 (1975)

216pp illustrated in b/w. Wraps, lightly creased, else good. Applies Kevin Lynch's 'perceptual analysis' of urban space to the rural landscape, exploring how people move through it and identify with landmarks etc. In the second section of the book he explores the implications of this for the historically layered Japanese landscape. Translated by Charles Terry. From the library of the Landscape Design Trust, with small stamp on fep.

Buckinghamshire County Museum and Stowe School 1983

Introduction, description of the plates and 51 sepia images. Long 4to. Very good in very good dust wrapper. Immaculate album taken from Nattes views 1805-1807.