Theorie der Gartenkunst.

Weidmanns Erben und Reich, Leipzig, 1779–1785

First edition of the most famous German garden book of its time.

Description: 5 parts in 3 vols. Contemporary half calf over buff paper boards. Spine with 5 raised bands ruled in gilt and two contrasting red morocco label lettered in gilt. Quarto: 25 × 21 cm; pp.: (vol.1) xiv, 230; iv, 200, [4]; (vol.2) iv, 170, [2], 171–251, [5]; iv, 172, [2], 175–252, [2]; (vol.3) viii, 194, [2] 197–368, [9]. Illustrated with 5 engraved vignettes on titel pages, 231 in-text engravings (38 of which full-page) and 7 engraved plates (1 fold-out).

Provenance: Bookplate on the front pastedown Aus der Freiherrl. v. Stumm’schen Bibliothek auf Schloss Ramholz. Hugo Rudolf Freiherr von Stumm-Ramholz (1845–1910) was a descendant of one of the most significant mining dynasties in the southwest of Germany. He commissioned the construction of Ramholz Castle near Schlüchtern, which was completed between 1893 and 1896.

Ref.: Dochnahl 71; Millard iii/p.58f.; Ornamentstich-Slg. Berlin II, 3353

Condition: Boards show some rubbing to extremities and wear to spine, minor worming to spine of vol. 1, mostly superficial. Pages slightly toned with age, occasional light foxing, some browning to margins of first and last few leaves.

Notes: C.C.L. Hirschfeld (1742–1792) was a professor of art and art history at the University of Kiel. His views on landscape were almost antithetical to the Baroque garden as exemplified by the work of Le Nostre and Le Blond – a type of garden which he actually associated with political absolutism. Instead, he advocated the informality and asymmetry of English picturesque examples as more suited to contemporary democratic tendencies. Hirschfeld’s garden theory grew out of his definition of gardens as “places where people can enjoy all the advantages of rural life, all the pleasures of the seasons, with comfort and tranquillity” (Millard 1993, iii, p.58). Hirschfeld’s five-volume Theory of Garden Art was published simultaneously in German and French (Theorie de l’art des jardins) in 1779–1785.