Le Jardin de Plaisir: contenant plusieurs desseins de jardinage, tant parterres en broderie, compartiments de gazon, que bosquets, & autres, avec vn abbregé de l’agriculture...
Not on view
Album with a title page, 23 sheets of text, and 30 plates, mostly folded, with garden designs created by André Mollet and dedicated to Queen Kristina of Sweden. The sheets with text included a title page, a two-page (one sheet) dedication to the Queen, a two-page (one sheet) forweord to the reader, a one-sheet extract of the designer's privilege, and 21 sheets containing 11 chapters with text, containing brief notes on different aspects of agriculture and gardening, dealing with cultivation and the knowledge and practical skills needed to achieve successful results. The last chapter, addressed not to the general reader but to Queen Kristina, contains a short description for each of the 30 plates that follow, which contain designs for parterres, groves, fountains, paths, and other garden decorations, intended to provide inspiration to gardeners in France and Sweden. The suite of illustrations begins with two plans for pleasure gardens, with basic compositions that leave some blank spaces in different elements of the garden. The designs that follow include different ways in which these empty parterres can be filled, in some cases including design variations in the same plate.
