DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16632#0012
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
In May 1904, at a meeting of the New Philological Society at Cologne, in an address on
the Origin of English Landscape Gardening, I offered the first fruits of those studies
out of which this book has grown.
In Germany at that date it may have seemed somewhat strange—and not only to a
philological audience—that Science should concern itself with the affairs of Gardening.
Even the historians of art had only shown a perfunctory interest. Jacob von Falk's book,
The Garden: its Art and History, which at the time he wrote it (1884) was really meritorious,
had received little attention outside a small circle; for its appearance coincided with a phase
of empty and meaningless art. In more recent years, however, partly through the in-
fluence of England, partly also by a decided inclination of fashion in the direction of the
formal garden, the attention of leading artists and practical men, of laymen and scientists,
has been drawn to this branch of art, so long neglected. All historians of art have been
busy with the subject of modern gardening.
Certain monographs have been warmly greeted, notably Hugo Koch's Saxon Garden
Art, 1910; and the first comprehensive work written in German, The Garden, by August
Grisebach, which, however, though called in a sub-title A History of its Formation, almost
entirely neglects to describe the historical development through the earlier centuries.
Beginning with the "Vegetable and Pleasure-Gardens of the Middle Ages," the author
makes a creditable attempt to separate the individual types.
Other countries, especially England, have year by year added to the increasing list
of books on the subject, but they are only of first-rate importance as supplying a wonder-
ful wealth of material to look at. I have dealt with these books, especially Formal
Gardens in England and Scotland, by H. Inigo Triggs (1902), and also his Art of Garden
Design in Italy, in my text. Triggs's later book, Garden-Craft in Europe, is not an
account based upon his own personal research, any more than Fouquier's book, De VArt
des Jardins du XVe aux XXe Siecle. In this respect the book by the Hon. Alicia Amherst,
A History of Gardening in England (1896), is far better; although it gives to garden art
proper only a secondary position, it includes much personal observation and research.
The second edition (1910) has moreover an enlarged and valuable bibliography of writers
on English gardens up to the year 1830.
The indispensable condition for an adequate presentation of garden art is a critical
examination of sources. In every epoch the material is new, and very different; and it
has had to be extracted from literary records—often widely scattered—partly in writings,
deeds and accounts, partly in paintings, sketches and engravings. In my story I have laid
particular stress on the actual historical moment, and on the indications, when the
types first appear, of the way they take and the changes they suffer. By following this
method one finds a surprising continuity from antiquity to the present day.
The study of old gardens that still exist, which I have tried to pursue in the course
ix
In May 1904, at a meeting of the New Philological Society at Cologne, in an address on
the Origin of English Landscape Gardening, I offered the first fruits of those studies
out of which this book has grown.
In Germany at that date it may have seemed somewhat strange—and not only to a
philological audience—that Science should concern itself with the affairs of Gardening.
Even the historians of art had only shown a perfunctory interest. Jacob von Falk's book,
The Garden: its Art and History, which at the time he wrote it (1884) was really meritorious,
had received little attention outside a small circle; for its appearance coincided with a phase
of empty and meaningless art. In more recent years, however, partly through the in-
fluence of England, partly also by a decided inclination of fashion in the direction of the
formal garden, the attention of leading artists and practical men, of laymen and scientists,
has been drawn to this branch of art, so long neglected. All historians of art have been
busy with the subject of modern gardening.
Certain monographs have been warmly greeted, notably Hugo Koch's Saxon Garden
Art, 1910; and the first comprehensive work written in German, The Garden, by August
Grisebach, which, however, though called in a sub-title A History of its Formation, almost
entirely neglects to describe the historical development through the earlier centuries.
Beginning with the "Vegetable and Pleasure-Gardens of the Middle Ages," the author
makes a creditable attempt to separate the individual types.
Other countries, especially England, have year by year added to the increasing list
of books on the subject, but they are only of first-rate importance as supplying a wonder-
ful wealth of material to look at. I have dealt with these books, especially Formal
Gardens in England and Scotland, by H. Inigo Triggs (1902), and also his Art of Garden
Design in Italy, in my text. Triggs's later book, Garden-Craft in Europe, is not an
account based upon his own personal research, any more than Fouquier's book, De VArt
des Jardins du XVe aux XXe Siecle. In this respect the book by the Hon. Alicia Amherst,
A History of Gardening in England (1896), is far better; although it gives to garden art
proper only a secondary position, it includes much personal observation and research.
The second edition (1910) has moreover an enlarged and valuable bibliography of writers
on English gardens up to the year 1830.
The indispensable condition for an adequate presentation of garden art is a critical
examination of sources. In every epoch the material is new, and very different; and it
has had to be extracted from literary records—often widely scattered—partly in writings,
deeds and accounts, partly in paintings, sketches and engravings. In my story I have laid
particular stress on the actual historical moment, and on the indications, when the
types first appear, of the way they take and the changes they suffer. By following this
method one finds a surprising continuity from antiquity to the present day.
The study of old gardens that still exist, which I have tried to pursue in the course
ix