European Gardens. An Historical Atlas. 1990. 192 plates (105 in colour). 207 p. 4to. Cloth.

The book is not a mere pictorial overview of the gardens, but a historyof the concept and evolution of the European garden. Gardens in Europebegan when man strove to replicate Eden, and the medieval gardensfocused on spintual and medicinal needs. As the focus turned from God toman during the Renaissance, gardens took on a palatial, manicuredquality and later mannerist gardens incorporated grottoes, topiaries andother purely decorative forms. The English predisposition forromanticism and the picturesque resulted in the creation of vastlandscape gardens, and later, an untamed cottage garden look. WhenAmerican influences were felt, the idea of a suburban garden foreveryone took hold and the Garden City Movement advocated parks andornamental plantings.