[BRÈS (Jean-Pierre)] - L’Abeille des jardins. - 1820

[BRÈS (Jean-Pierre)]
The Garden Bee.
Cordier Printing, [Le Fuel. Paris, c. 1820].

In-16 (12.9 x 8.2 cm), 248 pp., bound. Red morocco, spine with raised bands ornamented, gilt title, gilt rules framing the boards, gilt rules on the turn-ins, gilt head on the guards. Modern binding. Edges rubbed, occasional foxing. Good overall condition nonetheless.

Unique edition of this rather uncommon work consisting of a collection of texts devoted to the description and praise of the beauty of gardens.
It belongs to the taste of the eighteenth century, which makes the garden an essential element of the art of living of the elites. Meant as a prolongation of the dwelling, the garden becomes at once a space of representation, of promenade and of pleasure, bearing witness to a new relationship with nature.

It is illustrated by a frontispiece, a title page engraved, and 10 pictorial plates hors-texte representing views of gardens.

As the author notes at the outset of his work: “Gardens are the most charming abode of men: there they find the agreeable joined to the useful.”