Hardcover. Princeton NJ, Princeton Architectural Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 326 pages, illustrated with b&w photographs, several color plates and architectural drawings by Vitale. Foreword by Horace Havemeyer III. Ferruccio Vitale is America's forgotten landscape architect. Though his works like Skylands and Longwood Gardens are well known, his name has been eclipsed by his contemporary, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Yet Vitale's influence on the modern direction of landscape design and his promotion of it as a profession is arguably more significant than Olmsted's. His unique designs and philosophy, which challenged the then-dominant pictorial mode of landscape architecture, influenced generations of followers, and is still felt today. Vitale (1875-1933) developed his rationale designs, based on the principles of composition from the fine arts and architecture, in both civic commissions and, most notably, at the country estates of captains of industry and finance. He introduced an idealized and abstracted type of formal design that created beautiful spaces, structured large sites, and reflected informal and relaxed plant compositions. Ferruccio Vitale tours over 40 of his masterworks, photographed by some of the best landscape photographers of the time, including Samuel Gottscho. It recounts the compelling story of a life in the early twentieth century, influenced by immigrant dreams, social clubs, and professional connections, and its culmination in some of the greatest landscapes of the 20th century.
Hardcover. New York , Random House, 1st US, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover, 240 pages. Illustrated with color photos. Lavishly illustrated, THE GARDEN MAKERS profiles more than seventy gardeners, profesional and amateur, from Frederick Law Olmsted to Vita Sackville-West.
Hardcover. New York, Kodansha International, Reprint, 1984, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 228 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket edges. Black & white and color photographs throughout. A tight copy.
Softcover. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in illustrated wrappers, 304 pages. Illustrated with B&W engravings. Jens Jensen was one of America's greatest landscape designers and conservationists. Using native plants and "fitting" designs, he advocated that our gardens, parks, roads, playgrounds, and cities should be harmonious with nature and its ecological processes-a belief that was to become a major theme of modern American landscape design. In Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens, Robert E. Grese draws on Jensen's writings and plans, interviews with people who knew him, and analyses of his projects to present a clear picture of Jensen's efforts to enhance and preserve "native" landscapes.
Hardcover. Conran, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 208 pages. John Brookes is one of the world's most respected master gardeners; his more than 1,200 designs have forced a major rethinking of what gardens can be. This first-ever illustrated retrospective of Brookes's career is fascinating reading both for its rich insight into his life, and for opening a wondrous new window onto the garden designs he created for private clients, many of which have never been publicly viewed. More than 50 of the best examples of his work are on display, highlighted by 170 color photographs. Also featured are his explorations in adding movement and dimension to garden design, thoughts on the special considerations for garden entrances, and his understanding of the cultural context of the "room outside."
Softcover. Cambridge MA, The MIT Press, 1st, 1997, Book: N, Softcover, 119 pages. Ultimately, Viewing Olmsted is a savvy and thought-provoking, yet diminutive picture book. The collaboration of three brilliant photographers under the sponsorship of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, it guides the reader down three highly personal, present day tours of legendary parks designed by Olmsted, the patron saint of American landscape architecture. Happily, though, its readers are left to intellectually fend for themselves as to meanings or implications of Frederick Olmsted's work, genius, and lasting influence as the man who designed such famous spaces as Central Park. Academics and artists will appreciate the fresh visual perspectives offered on the man's legacy, the sometimes soothing, sometimes haunting nature-by-design retreats for the urban soul. Those with more than a passing interest in the ways in which man interacts with his `natural' surroundings will appreciate vistas evocative of place rather than time. To the authors' credit, the book raises more questions than it answers, and is of a scale to fit neatly into a travel case. Far from definitive, the book is, nevertheless, a must have for architects, landscape architects, photographers, and Olmsted aficionados.
