REPTON, Humphry (1752-1818). Observations on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening, including some remarks on Grecian and Gothic Architecture. London: T. Bensley for J. Taylor, 1803.

4to (335 x 270 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait after S. Shelley, 27 aquatints and line-engraved plates (including 12 hand-colored, 13 with overslips, and one folding with short tears to folds touching border with old repairs verso); 11 aquatint and engraved plates in the text (2 with overslips), vignette on p. 8, numerous woodcut diagrams, one hand-colored on p. 219. (Some light spotting.) 20th-century half morocco gilt (some light rubbing). Provenance: A few light neat marginal pencil annotations; Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh (1916-1955), British peer and soldier (armorial bookplate).

FIRST EDITION of Repton's second treatise, a less scenic work than Sketches and Hints, but one reflecting the increasing alignment between landscape and architecture, and the kind of tidying up exercise recommended on a gentleman's estate. "Perhaps [Repton's] most significant and influential publication overall" (Archer). Abbey Scenery 390; Archer 279.1; RIBA 2734 ("Repton's most important work"); Tooley 399.

Property from the Fred and Kay Krehbiel Collection

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