Review by Choice Review
This oversized, lavishly illustrated compendium covers several centuries of garden design with nearly 130 worldwide examples. The images were photographed by Le Toquin, whose previous works include The Most Beautiful Gardens in the World (2004), a volume with similar approach but smaller in scale and scope. The sites are diverse in culture, style, and season, and include not only the better-known examples in garden history, such as Hadrian's Villa, Kyoto's Imperial Gardens, Versailles, the Taj Mahal and other classics, but also lesser-known contemporary examples. Modern examples include Fazenda Marambaia (Petropolis, Brazil); Jacques Morelle's Garden (Marrakech, Morocco); Nek Chand's Rock Garden (Chandigarh, India); and the delightful Banca Catalana balcony gardens of Barcelona. The text by Bosser (The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World, 2003) brilliantly captures in typically 300-word annotations the needed cultural and design context. However, the emphasis here is on the image, and the book showcases the best landscape design with photography of comparable quality. Supplements include a bibliography, indexes, and address information for the gardens. For most academic library collections. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels. E. H. Teague University of Oregon
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
Great gardens are temporal in every way, requiring endless attention and care to survive. Although many ancient masterworks have not endured, 2000 years of garden history are preserved in this dazzling opus. Having sought out and selected an array of exemplary landscapes, innovative modernist spaces, and unstudied community plots, Bosser and world-renowned photographer Le Toquin offer an extraordinary overview. Casting a well-trained eye on structural elements and ornamental features, pristine settings and exalted plantings, Le Toquin creates images of stimulating clarity that deliver a beguiling accounting of diverse garden styles. Combined with Bosser's gracefully descriptive text, the result is a definitive and ravishing chronicle of gardens spanning past and present, East and West, the eccentric and the sublime. An index of notable gardens open to the public will pave the way to in-person experiences. --Alice Joyce Copyright 2006 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
