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Books > Health, Home & Family > Gardening > Gardens (descriptions, history etc)

Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape (Hardcover): Arleyn A Levee Blue Garden: Recapturing an Iconic Newport Landscape (Hardcover)
Arleyn A Levee
R1,000 Discovery Miles 10 000 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This is a compelling story about the decline and rebirth of a 100 year old garden. Until recently, the Blue Garden, an icon of Gilded Age splendour in Newport, Rhode Island, was known only from hand-tinted slides dating from 1917. Originally designed in collaboration with the garden's original owner by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr, and the Olmsted firm--founded by his father, the great landscape architect responsible for Central Park, New York City--it has now been brought back to life. Landscape historian Arleyn A. Levee tells a fascinating and carefully researched narrative about the garden's origins, development, heyday, decay and ultimate renaissance. The Blue Garden skillfully interweaves the garden's design and social history, and stories of its founders and the Olmsted firm, with historical photos, original drawings and sketches, and images of the restored garden from 2015. This is a timeless and inspiring account of the devoted patrons, skilled artisans and great designers behind the creation and revival of a masterpiece, made possible by the vision of a devoted patron, and the relevance of historic preservation of gardens in the 21st century.

The Home Gardener: Garden Design & Planning (Paperback): Alan Bridgewater, Gill Bridgewater The Home Gardener: Garden Design & Planning (Paperback)
Alan Bridgewater, Gill Bridgewater
R147 Discovery Miles 1 470 Ships in 5 - 7 working days

A useful guide for anyone who has moved into a new house and needs to create a garden that will meet their needs for decades to come.

Garden Design and Planning shows you how to convert a bare patch or an existing layout into the garden of your dreams. Lavishly illustrated with photographs and drawings, it guides the reader through every stage of the process, from the initial planning to the finishing touches, offering practical advice on a variety of projects that are well within the reach of the average gardener or DIY enthusiast

Landscape and Garden Design - Lessons from History (Paperback, New): Gordon Haynes Landscape and Garden Design - Lessons from History (Paperback, New)
Gordon Haynes
R1,007 Discovery Miles 10 070 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This book presents a chronological review of garden design which both simplifies the big picture and supplies a rationale, with examples, of the merits and demerits of each design period while reflecting on the social conditions which generated each one. It gathers together design ideas and their implementation over the last 500 years, presented in historical order and simplified to allow easy digestion by the reader, particularly if meeting the subject for the first time. As such the book demystifies history and identifies the relative importance of new approaches in design, particularly where they are seen to be progressive. Essential examples from each design period or style are included, based upon their contribution to the progress of design and relating to their value, particularly in the teaching of garden and landscape design principles. Thus the reader will be able to quickly grasp the essence of historical design styles, discover where they can go to see them for themselves and to appreciate how relevant they are to present day theories of design.By concentrating on Britain's own heritage the book offers a sound understanding of influences and thereby helps to inform design practice. Since the principles of design are universal, it will be of relevance in many countries throughout the world. The book is illustrated with photographs, diagrams and plans, creating a readily-accessible and informative volume.

Glasshouse Greenhouse - Haarkon's World Tour of Amazing Botanical Spaces (Hardcover): India Hobson, Magnus Edmondson Glasshouse Greenhouse - Haarkon's World Tour of Amazing Botanical Spaces (Hardcover)
India Hobson, Magnus Edmondson 1
R739 R639 Discovery Miles 6 390 Save R100 (14%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Greenhouses fuse together cultures and countries under one glass roof. In their debut book, photographers India Hobson and Magnus Edmondson take you on a worldwide journey through their favourite botanical spaces.

The Haarkon Greenhouse Tour began as a self-initiated adventure in Oxford s botanic garden four years ago. Since then, Magnus and India have visited countless locations in the UK, Europe, America, Asia and beyond in search of dream glasshouses and greenhouses, capturing dramatic palm houses, tropical hothouses and private potting sheds along the way.

Divided into seven thematic chapters History, Specimen, Community, Research, Pleasure, Hobbyist and Architecture the featured spaces in Glasshouse / Greenhouse are depicted via a series of photo-essays that draw out the style, plant collections and character of each space.

Temporary Gardens (Paperback): Raffaella Sini Temporary Gardens (Paperback)
Raffaella Sini
R1,152 Discovery Miles 11 520 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The last 30 years have seen a surge in temporary gardens. The flexibility and new challenges invested in non-permanent landscapes has made them a creative and stimulating testing ground for professionals and impromptu designers. Raffaella Sini examines the historical evolution of the genre, exploring theory, narratives, and strategies informing 80 temporary gardens built in France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, and the United States. Key topics include: * temporary gardens in 1970s avant-garde art and 1980s public art; * temporary gardens as opportunities to work with live processes, practice inclusion, and explore concepts of social justice and ecology; * temporary gardens to redefine the vocabulary of garden design; and * temporary gardens in tactical urbanism. The book comprehensively decodifies the full range of ephemeral gardens: uprooted, mobile, itinerant, movable, postmodern, installation, exhibited, conceptual, theme, pop-up, guerrilla, grassroots, meanwhile, interim, provisional, activist, community, and parklet. Beyond physical duration, time-focused design in gardens affects the entire process of conceiving, building, experiencing, and managing green spaces; using short-term formats, anyone can invent, trial, and experiment in a condensed experience of landscape. The temporary garden emerges as critical cultural ground for the discourse in landscape architecture, art, ephemeral urbanism, and in urban, landscape, and garden design. It is inspirational reading for designers and students alike.

Teaching Landscape - The Studio Experience (Paperback): Karsten  Jorgensen, Nilgul Karadeniz, Elke Mertens, Richard Stiles Teaching Landscape - The Studio Experience (Paperback)
Karsten Jorgensen, Nilgul Karadeniz, Elke Mertens, Richard Stiles
R1,471 Discovery Miles 14 710 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Teaching Landscape: The Studio Experience gathers a range of expert contributions from across the world to collect best-practice examples of teaching landscape architecture studios. This is the companion volume to The Routledge Handbook of Teaching Landscape in the two-part set initiated by the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools (ECLAS). Design and planning studio as a form of teaching lies at the core of landscape architecture education. They can simulate a professional situation and promote the development of creative solutions based on gaining an understanding of a specific project site or planning area; address existing challenges in urban and rural landscapes; and often involve interaction with real stakeholders, such as municipality representatives, residents or activist groups. In this way, studio-based planning and design teaching brings students closer to everyday practice, helping to prepare them to create real-world, problem-solving designs. This book provides fully illustrated examples of studios from over twenty different schools of landscape architecture worldwide. With over 250 full colour images, it is an essential resource for instructors and academics across the landscape discipline, for the continuously evolving process of discussing and generating improved teaching modes in landscape architecture.

Chanticleer - A Pleasure Garden (Hardcover): Adrian Higgins Chanticleer - A Pleasure Garden (Hardcover)
Adrian Higgins; Photographs by Rob Cardillo
R817 Discovery Miles 8 170 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Chanticleer, a forty-eight-acre garden on Philadelphia's historic Main Line, is many things simultaneously: a lush display of verdant intensity and variety, an irreverent and informal setting for inventive plant combinations, a homage to the native trees and horticultural heritage of the mid-Atlantic, a testament to one man's devotion to his family's estate and legacy, and a good spot for a stroll and picnic amid the blooms. In Chanticleer: A Pleasure Garden, Adrian Higgins and photographer Rob Cardillo chronicle the garden's many charms over the course of two growing cycles. Built on the grounds of the Rosengarten estate in Wayne, Pennsylvania, Chanticleer retains a domestic scale, resulting in an intimate, welcoming atmosphere. The structure of the estate has been thoughtfully incorporated into the garden's overall design, such that small gardens created in the footprint of the old tennis court and on the foundation of one of the family homes share space with more traditional landscapes woven around streams and an orchard. Through conversations and rambles with Chanticleer's team of gardeners and artisans, Higgins follows the garden's development and reinvention as it changes from season to season, rejoicing in the hundred thousand daffodils blooming on the Orchard Lawn in spring and marveling at the Serpentine's late summer crop of cotton, planted as a reminder of Pennsylvania's agrarian past. Cardillo's photographs reveal further nuances in Chanticleer's landscape: a rare and venerable black walnut tree near the entrance, pairs of gaily painted chairs along the paths, a backlit arbor draped in mounds of fragrant wisteria. Chanticleer fuses a strenuous devotion to the beauty and health of its plantings with a constant dedication to the mutability and natural energy of a living space. And within the garden, Higgins notes, there is a thread of perfection entwined with whimsy and continuous renewal.

Stourhead - Henry Hoare's Paradise Revisited (Hardcover): Dudley Dodd Stourhead - Henry Hoare's Paradise Revisited (Hardcover)
Dudley Dodd; Photographs by Marianne Majerus; Foreword by James Stourton
R1,056 Discovery Miles 10 560 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

A beautifully illustrated history of the world famous landscape garden at Stourhead, created by generations of the Hoare banking dynasty. Cross the south lawn at Stourhead and descend through the ancient and rare trees. Soon you will see a great lake appear, decorated with classical temples and arched bridge that lunges to the other side of the water. Continue on and you will find a mystical, jagged grotto; a gothic hideaway; gods, muses and saints. This is how Henry Hoare - known as Henry the Magnificent - would have approached the garden he designed with Henry Flitcroft. Did he imagine himself as a journeying Aeneas, or was he recreating a Claud Lorrain landscape? This is the first history - in colour - of a unique landscape created by generations of the Hoare banking family. It follows its evolution, describing how flights of folly, individual flair and tastes, combined with careful stewardship, have formed a national treasure and one of the finest example of the English landscape garden. The book includes a foreword by James Stourton and newly commissioned photography by renowned garden photographer Marianne Majerus.

Venetian Gardens (Hardcover): Monty Don, Derry Moore Venetian Gardens (Hardcover)
Monty Don, Derry Moore
R1,069 Discovery Miles 10 690 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Join Monty Don, Britain's pre-eminent gardener, and acclaimed photographer Derry Moore on their historic journey through the most stunning gardens of Venice and the Veneto. Few world cities hold the romance and historical sweep of Venice. Thousands visit every year - and a mixture of crowds and climate leave it vulnerable, so much so it is often said to be in danger of sinking - but away from the usual tourist haunts around St. Mark's square are exceptional hidden treasures, some 500 gardens, many of them with fascinating stories. Starting in the heart of the city and working their way out to the Veneto, Monty and Derry celebrate the beauty of these places and tell their unique stories: from a beautiful nunnery garden with a history of exotic animals and a kitchen garden of the historic Foundation to the Madonna church to the estates of famous Venetian families, like the spectacular Giusti Renaissance garden. With stunning full colour photography throughout, Venice Gardens will give readers new insight into one of the world's most beloved cities - you won't see Venice the same way again.

Chihuly at Kew - Reflections on nature (Hardcover): Dale Chihuly, Tim Richardson Chihuly at Kew - Reflections on nature (Hardcover)
Dale Chihuly, Tim Richardson
R745 R680 Discovery Miles 6 800 Save R65 (9%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on nature is a celebration of the work of iconic artist Dale Chihuly, who once again is exhibiting his luminous artworks in Kew's spectacular landscape, featuring pieces never seen before in the UK. The book showcases these utterly unique artworks across one of London's most spectacular landscapes, in a perfect marriage of art, science, and nature. Stunning photography depicts the dazzling art installations situated across the Gardens, set within the landscape as well as in glasshouses and in the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art. Highlights include the Drawings and Rotolo series, some of the most technically challenging work that Chihuly has ever created, as well as Seaforms, undulating forms that conjure underwater life. A specially designed sculpture suspended from the ceiling of the newly restored Temperate House provides one of the moss stunning features of the exhibition and book. An introductory essay by Tim Richardson accompanies the artworks, along with artist's chronology and biography.

Persian Gardens and Pavilions - Reflections in History, Poetry and the Arts (Paperback): Mohammad Gharipour Persian Gardens and Pavilions - Reflections in History, Poetry and the Arts (Paperback)
Mohammad Gharipour
R1,206 Discovery Miles 12 060 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

From Timur's tent in Samarqand to Shah 'Abbas's palace in Isfahan and Humayun's tomb in Delhi, the pavilion has been an integral part of Persianate gardens since its earliest appearance at the Achaemenid garden in Pasargadae in the sixth century BC. Here, Mohammad Gharipour places both the garden and the pavilion within their historical, literary and artistic contexts, emphasizing the importance of the pavilion, which has hitherto been overlooked in the study of Iranian historical architecture. Starting with an examination of the depictions and representations of gardens in religious texts, Gharipour analyses how the idea of the garden developed from the model of pre-Islamic gardens in Achaemenid and Sassanian Persia to its mentions in the Zoroastrian text of Aban Yasht and on to its central role as paradise in the Qur'an. Continuing on with an exploration of gardens and pavilions in Persian poetry, Gharipour offers in-depth analysis of their literal and metaphorical values. It is in the poetry of major Persian poets such as Ferdowsi, Naser Khosrow, Sa'di, Rumi and Hafez that Gharipour finds that whilst gardens are praised for their spiritual values, they also contain significant symbolic worth in terms of temporal wealth and power. Persian Gardens and Pavilions then goes onto examine the garden and the pavilion as reflected in Persian miniature painting, sculpture and carpets, as well as accounts of travelers to Persia. With masters such as Bizhad representing daily life as well as the more mystical prose and poetry in, for example, Sa'di's Bustan (The Orchard) and Golestan (The Rose Garden), the garden and the pavilion can be seen to have crucial semiotic significance and cultural meanings. But in addition to this, they also point to historical patterns of patronage and ownership which were of central importance in the diplomatic and social life of the royal courts of Persia. Gharipour thereby highlights the metaphorical, spiritual, symbolic and religious aspects of gardens, as well as their more materialistic and economic functions. This book reaches back through Persia's rich history to explore the material and psychological relationships between human beings, pavilions and gardens, and will be a valuable resource for Art History, Architecture and Iranian Studies.

A Garden for All Seasons (Hardcover): Kate Markert A Garden for All Seasons (Hardcover)
Kate Markert
R940 Discovery Miles 9 400 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

A Garden for All Seasons captures Marjorie Post's garden landscape, set on twenty-five acres in Washington, D.C. Working with prominent landscape architects Umberto Innocenti, Richard Webel, and Perry Wheeler, Post envisioned a setting with a diverse and fascinating array of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants, offering something to see in every season. Thirteen acres of formal gardens extend from the house's terraces and porches in a progression of outdoor rooms. Each of these spaces, meant to complement the mansion's interior rooms, encourages an intuitive flow from the French parterre to the rose garden, onto the Friendship Walk and the vast Lunar Lawn, location of many of Post's legendary entertainments. Readers will find inspiration in the newly commissioned photography, while historic images bring context to the beautiful landscape. Although she was in residence at Hillwood only in the spring and fall, Post designed the gardens to flower in all seasons. Today, they are even more glorious all year round for the myriad visitors to the property.

Urban Open Space Governance and Management (Paperback): Marit Jansson, Thomas B. Randrup Urban Open Space Governance and Management (Paperback)
Marit Jansson, Thomas B. Randrup
R1,230 Discovery Miles 12 300 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This edited volume defines and compares central aspects of governance and management related to urban open spaces (UOSs) such as long-term management, combined governance and management and strategic management of UOSs. Perspectives such as ethical considerations, user participation and changes in local governmental structures frame the governance and management of UOSs. Jansson and Randrup create a comprehensive resource detailing global trends from framing and understanding to finally practising UOS governance and management. They conclude by promoting positive changes, such as proactive management and strategic maintenance plans to encourage the creation of more sustainable cities. Illustrated in full colour throughout, this book is an essential read for students and academics of landscape architecture, planning and urban design, as well as those with a particular interest in governance and management of UOSs.

Nymans - The Story of a Sussex Garden (Paperback, Uk Ed.): Shirley Nicholson Nymans - The Story of a Sussex Garden (Paperback, Uk Ed.)
Shirley Nicholson
R384 R186 Discovery Miles 1 860 Save R198 (52%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Nymans forms one of a group of gardens in the Sussex Weald which were created before the First World War and are still beautiful today, their owners sharing a passion for new material brought back from all over the world by intrepid plant hunters. Ludwig Messel bought Nymans in 1890 and, with his head gardener, James Comber, began extensive planting of exotics, determined to prove that many supposedly tender plants could grow outdoors in Sussex. After 1915, his son, Leonard, carried on planting and raising new hybrids. In 1954 the garden was bequeathed to the National Trust. This historic garden is undoubtedly one of our national treasures and this book pays tribute to its history and beauty.

Landscape Professional Practice (Hardcover, New Ed): Gordon Rowland Fraser Landscape Professional Practice (Hardcover, New Ed)
Gordon Rowland Fraser
R4,579 Discovery Miles 45 790 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Graduate of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Chartered Landscape Architect, MBA and Barrister, Gordon Rowland Fraser draws upon 30 years of project management, professional practice and teaching experience to provide an uncomplicated and intuitive guide to the business aspects of the landscape profession. An indispensable reference for seasoned professionals, the book will enable the student or novice practitioner to turn their drawing board inspiration into reality without being overwhelmed or afraid of overseeing the implementation of their proposals. Guided by the Landscape Institute's 2013 Pathway to Chartership syllabus, this structured, step-by-step, narrative guide sets out the documentation commonly used within the landscape profession and makes accessible a logical and sequential understanding of contractual relationships; procurement strategies; processes of preparing client estimates and obtaining competitive quotations; of preparing contract documentation and administering formal contracts; general concepts of law as they relate to land management and the landscape profession; of business administration, market appraisal and positioning; and of the landscape consultant's appointment. As an understanding of professional practice is intrinsic to all Landscape Institute accredited courses, this is an essential text for every landscape architecture student during their education and their subsequent journey into professional practice. Those undertaking Garden Design Diplomas will similarly find the book invaluable as they venture into the world of creativity and commerce, while the seasoned practitioner will find it a comprehensive point of reference to add to their bookshelf.

British Gardens - History, philosophy and design (Hardcover, New): Tom Turner British Gardens - History, philosophy and design (Hardcover, New)
Tom Turner
R4,669 Discovery Miles 46 690 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Garden design began in West Asia and spread through Europe. This book tells how, in the British Isles, it flourished to an extraordinary degree. Following the historical method in Tom Turner's books on Asian gardens (2010) and European gardens (2011), it uses almost 1000 colour photographs, plans and style diagrams to provide a word and image history of garden design. Individual chapters cover the Celtic, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romantic, Arts and Crafts, Modern and Postmodern periods. Additional information about the gardens in the book is available on the Gardenvisit.com website, which the author edits http://www.gardenvisit.com/history_theory/british_gardens_companion

Living with Yards - Negotiating Nature and the Habits of Home (Paperback): Ursula Lang Living with Yards - Negotiating Nature and the Habits of Home (Paperback)
Ursula Lang
R829 Discovery Miles 8 290 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Yards are not quite wild, yet rarely tamed. Across diverse residential landscapes in North America and beyond, yards are regulated by the state and markets, defined by imaginary property lines on maps, and sometimes central to privilege and exclusion. As urban life is reimagined for greater sustainability, resilience, and adaptation, Living with Yards invites readers to more fully engage with the possibilities of how we can coexist with our urban habitats. Ursula Lang uses the yard as a faceted lens through which to examine the multiple and contradictory ways people live in urban environments, and how perceptions of those environments are shaped by contemporary environmental policies and projects. Visual ethnography and narrative illustrate how inhabitants of Minneapolis live with their yards as sites of social and environmental care while also negotiating difference. Throughout, Lang's subjects engage in diverse and creative everyday practices of cultivation and property ownership, often quite distinct from the environmental policies and projects in place. The process of reimagining cities as more sustainable and equitable must include knowledge of how people live within urban spaces. By conducting in-depth visits to more than forty yards and sharing her results, Lang provokes us to think about what else these realms of daily life might become. Living with Yards chronicles the interplay between the yard as habitat and our inhabitation of it, exploring the changes and innovations a better understanding of urban living might spark.

Kew Gardens (Hardcover): Virginia Woolf Kew Gardens (Hardcover)
Virginia Woolf; Illustrated by Livi Mills
R224 Discovery Miles 2 240 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

This charming short story by one of the greatest literary figures of the 20th century, Virginia Woolf, is set on a hot July day in Kew Gardens. Woolf creates an impressionistic world with snippets of conversation, wondering thoughts and sparks of colour. The gentle narrative drifts between different characters as they stroll through the world famous botanic gardens. In this new edition published by Kew, delightful illustrations accompany the text in this attractive gift book.

Rescuing Eden - Preserving America's Historic Gardens (Hardcover): Caroline Seebohm Rescuing Eden - Preserving America's Historic Gardens (Hardcover)
Caroline Seebohm; Photographs by Curtice Taylor
R900 Discovery Miles 9 000 Ships in 10 - 15 working days
The English Landscape Garden - A survey (Paperback): Michael Symes The English Landscape Garden - A survey (Paperback)
Michael Symes 1
R739 Discovery Miles 7 390 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

The 18th-century phenomenon of the English Landscape Garden was so widespread that even today, when so much has been built over or otherwise changed, one is never far from an example throughout England. Although seemingly natural, the English Landscape Garden was generally the result of considerable contrivance, effort and design skill, the result of `the art that conceals art'. It might involve digging lakes, raising or levelling hills, and planting trees, sometimes in vast numbers. Nature was arranged and shown to best advantage. The English landscape garden took many forms, and the variety of manifestations was and remains remarkable. A great number survive, if sometimes in modified form, and can be visited and appreciated. The book is structured so as to give the background to, and motivation for, creating the landscape garden; to summarise the chronology of its development; to chart the most significant writers and theorists; and to consider the range of the many forms it took. The story of the landscape garden is complex, multi-layered and constantly changing in emphasis for such an apparently simple and straightforward construct. This book will help to uncover some of the richness that lies behind a meaningful part of the environment. The book can be regarded as a companion to the volume already published by Historic England, The English Landscape Garden in Europe.

Garden History: A Very Short Introduction (Paperback): Gordon Campbell Garden History: A Very Short Introduction (Paperback)
Gordon Campbell
R258 Discovery Miles 2 580 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Gardens take many forms, and have a variety of functions. They can serve as spaces of peace and tranquilty, a way to cultivate wildlife, or as places to develop agricultural resources. Globally, gardens have inspired, comforted, and sustained people from all walks of life, and since the Garden of Eden many iconic gardens have inspired great artists, poets, musicians, and writers. In this Very Short Introduction, Gordon Campbell embraces gardens in all their splendour, from parks, and fruit and vegetable gardens to ornamental gardens, and takes the reader on a globe-trotting historical journey through iconic and cultural signposts of gardens from different regions and traditions. Ranging from the gardens of ancient Persia to modern day allotments, he concludes by looking to the future of the garden in the age of global warming, and the adaptive spirit of human innovation. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Gardens - An Essay on the Human Condition (Hardcover, Illustrated Ed): Robert Pogue Harrison Gardens - An Essay on the Human Condition (Hardcover, Illustrated Ed)
Robert Pogue Harrison
R897 Discovery Miles 8 970 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Humans have long turned to gardens--both real and imaginary--for sanctuary from the frenzy and tumult that surrounds them. Those gardens may be as far away from everyday reality as Gilgamesh's garden of the gods or as near as our own backyard, but in their very conception and the marks they bear of human care and cultivation, gardens stand as restorative, nourishing, necessary havens.
With "Gardens," Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens evoke the human condition. Moving from from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history. The ancients, explains Harrison, viewed gardens as both a model and a location for the laborious self-cultivation and self-improvement that are essential to serenity and enlightenment, an association that has continued throughout the ages. The Bible and Qur'an; Plato's Academy and Epicurus's Garden School; Zen rock and Islamic carpet gardens; Boccaccio, Rihaku, Capek, Cao Xueqin, Italo Calvino, Ariosto, Michel Tournier, and Hannah Arendt--all come into play as this work explores the ways in which the concept and reality of the garden has informed human thinking about mortality, order, and power.
Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, "Gardens" is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison's earlier classics, "Forests" and "The Dominion of the Dead," Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Robert Pogue Harrison reminds us of the nature of thatresponsibility--and its enduring importance to humanity. "I find myself completely besotted by a new book titled "Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition," by Robert Pogue Harrison. The author . . . is one of the very best cultural critics at work today. He is a man of deep learning, immense generosity of spirit, passionate curiosity and manifold rhetorical gifts."--Julia Keller, "Chicago"" Tribune""" "This book is about gardens as a metaphor for the human condition. . . . Harrison draws freely and with brilliance from 5,000 years of Western literature and criticism, including works on philosophy and garden history. . . . He is a careful as well as an inspiring scholar."--Tom Turner, "Times Higher Education""" "When I was a student, my Cambridge supervisor said, in the Olympian tone characteristic of his kind, that the only living literary critics for whom he would sell his shirt were William Empson and G. Wilson Knight. Having spent the subsequent 30 years in the febrile world of academic Lit. Crit. . . . I'm not sure that I'd sell my shirt for any living critic. But if there had to be one, it would unquestionably be Robert Pogue Harrison, whose study "Forests: The Shadow of Civilization," published in 1992, has the true quality of literature, not of criticism--it stays with you, like an amiable ghost, long after you read it. "Though more modest in scope, this new book is similarly destined to become a classic. It has two principal heroes: the ancient philosopher Epicurus . . . and the wonderfully witty Czech writer Karel Capek, apropos of whom it is remarked that, whereas most people believe gardening to be a subset of life, 'gardeners, including Capek, understand that life is asubset of gardening.'"--Jonathan Bate, "The Spectator""" ""

Defiant Gardens - Making Gardens in Wartime (Paperback, First Trade Paper Edition): Kenneth I. Helphand Defiant Gardens - Making Gardens in Wartime (Paperback, First Trade Paper Edition)
Kenneth I. Helphand
R652 R614 Discovery Miles 6 140 Save R38 (6%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Why is it that in the midst of a war, one can still find gardens? In the most brutal environments, both stateside and on the battlefield, they continue to flourish. Wartime gardens are dramatic examples of what Kenneth I. Helphand calls "defiant gardens" -- gardens created in extreme social, political, economic, or cultural conditions. Illustrated with archival photos, this remarkable book examines gardens of war in the 20th century, including gardens built behind the trenches in World War I, in the Warsaw and other ghettos during World War II, and in Japanese-American internment camps, as well as gardens created by soldiers at their bases and encampments during wars in the Persian Gulf, Vietnam, and Korea. Proving that gardens are far more than peaceful respites from the outside world, "Defiant Gardens is a thought-provoking analysis of why people create natural spaces.

China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century in Landscape Architecture (Hardcover): Osvald Siren, Hugh Honour China and Gardens of Europe of the Eighteenth Century in Landscape Architecture (Hardcover)
Osvald Siren, Hugh Honour
R2,789 R2,476 Discovery Miles 24 760 Save R313 (11%) Ships in 10 - 15 working days
Tassonomica - n.1 (Paperback): Giovanni Marco Chiri Tassonomica - n.1 (Paperback)
Giovanni Marco Chiri
R627 Discovery Miles 6 270 Ships in 10 - 15 working days

Tassonomica faces how the need for understanding nature has historically shaped our conception of garden. From their very origin, gardens have always beared an ideal tension between knowledge and pleasure, resulting in the archetypes of the botanical garden and the garden of pleasure. Botanical Garden was born, specifically, as an actual euristic instrument to order, classify and preserve living beings by means of spatial separation. Even if humanity have underwent a journey of dematerialisation of knowledge, still space is the most powerful instrument for the comprehension of reality.

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