Garden Architecture

"The composition of picturesque gardens requires, at least a knowledge of the principles of elementary structures, and of ornamenting, since their embellishment consists partly in the erection of little allegorical monuments, the whole richness of which often depends but on their foreign form on their ornaments, these gardens, therefore, could not remain any longer under the direction of mere ordinary gardeners, but are become the province of artists, painters and architectects: it was for the latter in particular to being these gardens to perfection."

This 1809 trilingual book was written by German-born, French-naturalized architect and draftsman, Jean Charles Krafft. Krafft did almost all of the 92 drawings and the corresponding engravings were done by Boulay, Gossard and Joannee.

I'm presuming Krafft wrote the english translation - somewhat more embellished than the engravings themselves but somewhat less aesthetically pleasing. This is one of a number of architectural publications he released.

Plans of the most picturesque gardens in France, England and Germany, and of the edifices, monuments, fabrics etc which contribute to their embellishment, of every kind of architecture, such as Chinese, Egyptian, English, Arabian, Moorish, etc is online in multiple sized formats at the wonderful University of Wisconsin 'Digital Library for the Decorative Arts and Material Culture: Image and Text Collections' website. (thumbnail page)