Publisher's Synopsis
This work provides full translations in English of some 650 articles on gardens and landscapes, and of approximately 80 commentaries to the engravings, taken from the monumental "Encyclopedie" of Diderot and d'Alembert. Twenty plates have been reproduced with a full translation of their accompanying texts. These writings, here translated for the first time, provide an insight into the theory and practice of garden design, and reveal the extent to which the "Encyclopedie" captured the spirit of new appreciations of pastoral landscape in the 18th century. To enable the reader to place the letterpress articles from the "Encyclopedie" in context, they are preceded by two introductory essays, the first of which places gardens in their architectural setting, with particular emphasis on the Picturesque Movement in landscape design. The second explores garden imagery in Enlightenment literature, discussing perceived links between fiction and history.
