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Botany and Horticulture in the Special Collections and Archives Research Center

Rare Books

A view of an estate garden from Parcs et Jardins des Environs de ParisThe Rare Book Collections include a minor subcollection specifically on botanical gardens and landscape architecture. Many of these are from the collections of landscape architecture and horticulture faculty Albert D. Taylor and Arthur S. Peck. These items range from the 17th to the 21st century, and include everything from early modern Italian gardens to modern Oregon gardens.

Keywords : garden* or landscape* and limit to Special Collections.

Particular early illustrated highlights includeLi Giardini Di Roma : Con Le Loro Piante, Alzate E Vedvte in Prospettiva, published in Rome with wonderful engravings in 1670; Versailles Illustrated; Or, Divers Views of the Several Parts of the Royal Palace of Versailles from 1726; as well as titles from early 18th and 19th century leaders in the field such as Uvedale Price, Humphrey Repton, J. C. Loudon, and A. J. Downing.

There are multiple titles on the development of greenhouses in the Victorian era; more reviews of French landscape design in the late 19th century; as well as early 20th century works on parks, rural, urban, and suburban beautification and highway development in the Northwest.