- Hardcover: 240 pages
- Publisher: Frances Lincoln; 2nd Revised edition edition (6 Mar 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 071122031X
- ISBN-13: 978-0711220317
- Product Dimensions: 30.8 x 25.6 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 548,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
Every aspect of the Chinese garden is explored in Maggie Keswick's classic book. Although the subject of Chinese gardens can be unwieldy and esoteric, this book manages to be both scholarly and accessible (Country Life )
A perceptively revised edition (by Alison Hardie) of the inspiring and innovative first edition. No one with an interest in garden design should be without it (Architectural Review )
A magnificent study that is as readable as it is scholarly (Times )
A perceptively revised edition (by Alison Hardie) of the inspiring and innovative first edition. No one with an interest in garden design should be without it (Architectural Review )
A magnificent study that is as readable as it is scholarly (Times )
Review
Every aspect of the Chinese garden is explored in Maggie Keswick's classic book. Although the subject of Chinese gardens can be unwieldy and esoteric, this book manages to be both scholarly and accessible Country Life A perceptively revised edition (by Alison Hardie) of the inspiring and innovative first edition. No one with an interest in garden design should be without it Architectural Review A magnificent study that is as readable as it is scholarly Times
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
When Maggie Keswick (1941-1995) first published The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture in 1978 (second edition 1986), there were very few introductions to Chinese garden history available to the general reader in English. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
When Maggie Keswick (1941-1995) first published The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture in 1978 (second edition 1986), there were very few introductions to Chinese garden history available to the general reader in English. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
It is great to see this book reprinted in colour. The photographs and pictures complement the text very well. The book covers many aspects of Chinese gardens, including the philosophy and history behind them, the importance of rocks, the garden's relationship with the landscape painting and the constructors of gardens both Imperial and private. Filled with intelligent and detailed analysis and comment, this book is essential for anyone who has a serious interest in the subject.
For the garden-hunter, there is an appendix of all the gardens open to the public in China - very useful if you are planning a trip!
Now all we need to make our collections complete is a re-print of "the craft of gardens"!
For the garden-hunter, there is an appendix of all the gardens open to the public in China - very useful if you are planning a trip!
Now all we need to make our collections complete is a re-print of "the craft of gardens"!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
If you have an eye for beauty this book is a must have! To catch the magic of this subject in a book with such high level background information is a great achievement.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
The Garden as the Source of History and Philosophy
26 April 2005
Format:Hardcover
While the attitudes and examples of Japanese gardens abound in books and in cities around the world, very little has been written or photographs of the unique concepts found in the Chinese gardens. Maggie Keswick repairs that paucity of information with this very beautifully designed, photographed and written monograph on the spirit of the subtle beauties that abound in the Chinese garden.
Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.
Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05
Keswick offers an in depth analysis of the history of gardens in China and even if the reader is not an avid horticulturist, just the amount of information about China alone is reason to read this book carefully. But in addition to the history and the architectural elements of these gardens here considered, there are many graceful photographs and accompanying illustrations that keep pace with the narrative while providing an encouragement to return to the book purely for the art of it.
Keswick has found the middle ground in creating a volume about the elements of the Chinese garden and a volume that stands strongly as simply an art book. Highly recommended for repeated readings. Grady Harp, April 05
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound
5 May 2003
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.
18 of 21 people found the following review helpful
The right place to begin
12 Jan 2007
Format:Hardcover
I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens at Suzhou over the course of several dynasties. Chinese Classical Gardens of Suzhou (Hardcover)
by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion that every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valder's books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.
by Tun-Chen Liu, Joseph C. Wang is also a very good book . It is a critique of most of the principal gardens in Suzhou and it punctures the illusion that every Chinese garden is equally great and every feature wonderful. And if you are actually going to travel to China to see gardens you really should read both of Peter Valder's books . They will help you understand Chinese plants and to find gardens in many Chinese cities. I don't always agree with Valder's assessments . He is quite restrained at times . And if you are planning to travel to Suzhou consider visiting Tongli as well. I also consider the gardens of The Slender West Lake in Yangzhou and other gardens there to be equal to many of the gardens in Suzhou. And if you are going to go to China I recommend you start reading The Orientalist online and purchase Beijing by Peter Neville Hadley so that you will not be shocked when you travel China . It is by no means an easy process if you want to travel beyond some air-con rip-off tour.
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