Fragments on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening.
Including some Remarks on Grecian and Gothic Architecture.
London, T. Bensley & Son for J. Taylor, 1816
Written after the Prince had rejected Repton's plans for the Royal Pavilion, Fragments was dedicated to the Prince Regent but the book makes no mention of any commission for him, rather it serves as a reproach to his manners and morals. Fragments focuses on a number of aristocratic landscapes: Cobham, Woburn, Endsleigh, Ashridge, Longleat, and on small commissions such as Ealing Park and White Lodge, which took in views of royal parks. They commemorate a historically minded, public spirited nobility. Other Fragments on commissions for a range of clients, from Norfolk squires to Essex merchants, establish a polite consensus around highly detailed plans for gardens. The final Fragment on Hare Street incorporates the outlook of 'venerable noblemen' such as the Duke of Portland and Viscount Torrington in the view from Repton's own garden:
'To demonstrate the little consequence of quantity or value, when speaking of beauty of scenery, many places have been mentioned, which may perhaps appear too inconsiderable in a work that treats of dukedoms and royal domains: but I wish to evince, that in many cases great effect may be produced by a very contracted quantity of land … nothing more is necessary than a terrace, or a few shrubs and flowers to form a frame to the picture.' (Fragment XXXVI. Harestreet. Of Quantity and Appropriation)
First edition. 4to, half-title, 43 plates, comprising one uncoloured woodcut, 22 hand-coloured aquatint plates (10 with overslips), 20 plain or tinted aquatint plates (4 with overslips), 9 aquatint vignettes in the text (2 with overslips), several of the plates double-page, illustrations in text, slightly later black half morocco gilt, spine gilt lettered direct, red edges, joints repaired, a very good copy.
Abbey (Scenery), 391.
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