THE GARDEN BOOK (REVISED EDITION)
by Toby Musgrave and Tim Richardson Phaidon Press Ltd, £39.95 ISBN 978-1838663209
A lavish catalogue of over 500 designers and their iconic gardens and landscapes from across the globe and throughout history.
Reviewer Rae Spencer-Jones is books publisher at the RHS.
The first edition of The Garden Book was published in 2000 when it became an instant bestseller for publisher Phaidon.
Spanning continents across the globe and representing gardens and landscapes throughout history, this revised edition is every bit as lavish as the original. Of the over 500 entries, 150 are new or updated.
The images are sumptuous, showcasing the gardens at their very best. Organised alphabetically by designer or garden owner, each image is accompanied by a concise narrative that captures the essence of the garden or landscape, as well as an insight into the designer or owner.
Many of the designers and their gardens and landscapes are familiar icons that have rightly earned their place in this book for their imagination, innovation and execution. Consider ‘Capability’ Brown’s vast and ‘natural’ English landscape at Blenheim Palace; dreamy Giardino di Ninfa in Italy created by three generations of the Caetani family among the ruins of a medieval town; and Thomas Church’s Modernist El Novillero (Donnell Garden) in California.
However, a pleasing number of perhaps lesser-known gardens make an appearance too. At an altitude of 2,000m, Elie Saab’s Mountain Retreat in Faqra, Lebanon, by Vladimir Djurovic, is a spectacular representation of the harmony that can co-exist between the natural and man-made environment. In contrast, the Woodland Cemetery near Stockholm, created by architect Gunnar Asplund between 1935 and 1940, is one of the earliest successful examples of modern architecture set within a traditional landscape – a technique for which Asplund became well known.
With an informative glossary and useful directory of gardens open to visitors, this is a classic catalogue of the world’s finest. Above all, it is testament to the extraordinary brilliance of those who created these gardens, whether expressions of power of wealth or labours of love.