Antiquarian Auctions

Auction #114 begins on 11 Apr 2024

Loudon (John Claudius)

ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM

Published: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longmans, London, 1838

Edition: First Edition

Lot closed

Sold for: Register or Sign In to find out

Bids: 13

Visits: 56

Have a similar item to sell? Contact Us with the details.

How it works

Register

or, the trees and shrubs of Britain, native and foreign, hardy and half-hardy, pictorially and botanically delineated, and scientifically and popularly described: with their propagation, culture, management, and uses in the arts, in useful and ornamental plantations, and in landscape-gardening; preceded by a historical and geographical outline of the trees and shrubs of temperate climates throughout the world; in eight volumes: four of letterpress illustrated by above 2500 engravings, and four of octavo and quarto plates.

First edition: 8 volumes 1 -– IV letterpress, ccxxx, 1 - 2694 (continuous pagination), volumes V – VIII viii, 1 – 247 (continuous pagination) after page 340 in volume 8 the pages are incorrectly numbered, light foxing mainly on the plates and the page edges, green cloth blind stamped on the upper covers, titled gilt on the spines, which are faded, volume 1 has been neatly rebacked preserving the original backstrip, uncut edges, Volume VIII has water stains on the upper cover, corners bumped, a good set.

The 4 volumes of plates accompanying the text are arranged as follows: the names, scientific and English of all the trees included in the plates will be found systematically arranged in the general contents in Volume 1 and alphabetically arranged at the end of volume V111. The number on the left hand side merely shows the series: that on the right hand extremity of the column, in parenthesis, is the number printed on the plate; and the number preceding it refers to that page of the body of the work where the tree is treated.

John Claudius Loudon, (born April 8, 1783, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scot. - died Dec. 14, 1843, London), Scottish landscape gardener and architect. Loudon was the most influential horticultural journalist of his time, and his writings helped shape Victorian taste in gardens, public parks, and domestic architecture. With his wife, the author Jane Webb Loudon (1807-58), he wrote and published his widely read The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion, which set the style for the smaller gardens kept by England’s expanding middle class.

Loudon went to school in Edinburgh and then served as apprentice to a nurseryman and landscape gardener at Easter Dalry, Scot. He moved to London in 1803 and quickly established himself as a successful landscape gardener; in the same year he wrote a notable essay on the laying out of public squares. His prodigious publishing activity began in 1806 with his first book on gardening, which was followed by numerous others covering all aspects of horticulture, landscape design, and related subjects. Among his publications were An Encyclopaedia of Gardening (1822), the successful monthly, Gardener’s Magazine, and a major work, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838).

Loudon advocated irregular, picturesque gardens that were simultaneously intended as settings for botanical study. He called his style the “Gardenesque,” in contrast to the more visually and artistically oriented Picturesque. With its rather moralistic aim of combining instruction and pleasure, Loudon’s style became the dominant influence on Victorian taste in gardens. The epitome of his approach is the concept of the arboretum—a place where trees and shrubs are cultivated for the purpose of observation and study—exemplified by his most important work, the Derby Arboretum (1839–41).

Loudon’s involvement with architecture arose naturally out of his interest in landscape. He made himself a specialist in rural vernacular building types by writing his Encyclopaedia of Cottage, Farm, and Villa Architecture (1833). This work was unprecedented in that it was consciously addressed to the middle class rather than to an aristocratic audience. It thus helped shape Victorian suburban architecture. https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Claudius-Loudon

  • Overall Condition: A Good Set
  • Size: 4to (240 x 160 mm)
  • Sold By: Clarke's Africana & Rare Books
  • Contact Person: Paul Mills
  • Country: South Africa
  • Email: [email protected]
  • Telephone: 021 794 0600
  • Preferred Payment Methods: Visa & Mastercard via PayGate secure links and Bank transfers.
  • Trade Associations: ABA - ILAB, SABDA


© 2024 Paul Mills trading as AntiquarianAuctions.com. All rights reserved. Use of this website is regulated by our website Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.