GROHMANN, Johann Gottfried (1763-1805), BAUMGÄRTNER, Friedrich Gotthelf (1759-1848)

Ideenmagazin für Liebhaber von Gärten, Englischen Anlagen und für Besitzer von Landgütern um Gärten und ländliche Gegenden, sowohl mit geringem als auch grossem Geldaufwand, nach den originellsten Englischen, Gothischen, Sinesischen Geschmacksmanieren zu verschönern und zu veredeln. [Magazine of Ideas for Lovers of Gardens, English Landscapes and for Owners of Country Estates to Embellish and Refine Gardens and Rural Areas, Both with Little and Large Expenditure of Money, According to the Most Original English, Gothic, Chinese Taste]. Recueil d'Idees Nouvelles pour la Decoration des Jardins. [Collection of New Ideas for Garden Decoration]

Leipzig; Paris, et al: Friedrich Gotthelf Baumgärtner, in der Baumgärtnerischen Buchhandlung; Chez Fuchs Libraire, Quai des Augustins No. 18, et al. Printed by J. P. C. T. Werther; Jean Sommer, 1798-1800-1802-1806. Four volumes. 4to. (12 1/2 x 9 1/2 inches). First, second, and third editions. Four volumes of 46 cahiers. Ideen Magazin: II-XXIV, XXVI-XXIX, XXXI-XXXXVIII. Neues Ideen-Magazin: I. 423 copper-engraved plates, of which 36 are hand-colored, 1 printed brown and black, 1 folding, and 1 with over-slip. Vol. I, second edition: Cahiers XIII-XXIV. 194 ff. 388 pp. 112 copper-engraved plates, of which 16 are hand-colored and 1 is printed black and brown. Vol. II, first edition. Cahiers XXXVII-XXXXVIII. 138 ff. 276 pp. 104 copper-engraved plates. Vol. III, first, second, and third editions, 1798-1806. Cahiers II-XII and Neues Ideen-Magazin I. 159 ff. 318 pp. 120 copper-engraved plates, of which 17 are hand-colored, and 1 folding. Vol. IV: Cahiers XXVI-XXIX XXXI-XXXVI. 109 ff. 218 pp. 87 copper-engraved plates, 3 of which are colored, and one with over-slip. Letterpress titles, some cahiers with part-titles, no title in Vol. IV. Text in German and French. Introduction, index, explanatory texts.

Bound to style in half diced russia over 18th-century orange stone-pattern marbled boards, flat spine richly gilt in six panels with gilt-lettered red morocco titling-piece in second, gilt-lettered black morocco volume piece in fourth, and rest with foliate center tool, green endpapers

Provenance: Armorial bookplate of Sir John Bridgeman.

The most beautiful German magazine of the 18th century about the layout of gardens, garden houses, their equipment and furnishings, and garden decorations.

Grohmann's Ideenmagazin was published for "admirers of English gardens" and landowners wishing to "ornament" their properties. The present four volumes are a significant selection from this profusely and finely illustrated magazine filled with suggestions for what we now call landscape architecture. The 423 plates are of views of gardens and country houses, follies, tempietti, chinoiseries, facades, decorative grilles and fences, monuments, steles, water features, bridges, pavilions, grottoes, and lanterns "to embellish and refine garden and rural areas according to the original English, Gothic, and Chinese tastes." These designs reflect an eclectic range of sources and styles, Western and Eastern, classical and rustic, with beautifully detailed views of the landscaped gardens and their furnishings, all of which are done in a mode tinged with romanticism. "Grohmann took care to emphasize emotional effect and atmosphere. 'There are moods in the soul,' he wrote, that may be brought into a 'certain indescribable analogy with the surroundings through the choice of style.'" [Hvattum] Due to the comprehensive variety of the buildings depicted as well as the fine execution of the copper engravings, Grohmann's Ideenmagazin acquired a legendary reputation throughout Europe, and boasted of simultaneous publishing in Russia, France, Germany, and Budapest. Its popularity induced numerous derivative followers to begin publishing similar content. Grohmann was a Professor of Philosophy at Leipzig, and a prolific author of works on architecture and the decorative arts. "Grohmann's ambition, as the magazine's subtitle spelled out, was to 'improve and ennoble gardens and landscapes.' The examples were sometimes actual buildings, but just was often they were projects drawn up by architects in Grohmann's circle. Ideenmagazin became something of a hotbed for a new generation of German architects, with Carl Haller von Hallerstein, Gottfried Klinsky, Johann August Heine, and many others using the journal to widen not only garden patrons' choice but also the accepted stylistic repertoire of German architecture." [Hvattum] The Ideenmagazin was continued briefly after his death in 1805 by the publisher F. G. Baumgärtner. Complete copies of Ideenmagazin are exceptionally rare and comprise 60 cahiers in 5 volumes with 555 copperplates, 42 being colored, with cahiers 1-48 from Ideenmagazin and 1-12 from Neues Ideenmagazin. Often individual leaves are missing, having been taken out to frame for their vivid visual beauty. As is usual with works issued over a long period of time, the final fascicles are particularly difficult to locate as subscriptions fell. This is why Ideenmagazin, seen in any significant offering, as here, is rare.

Berlin Katalog 3366. Brunet III, 1293. Dochnahl 78. Hvattum, Style and Solitude: The History of an Architectural Program, p. 97. Kirchner I, 4099. Lee, The German Mittelweg: Garden Theory and Philosophy in the Time of Kant, passim. OCLC 11586395. Ornamental Engraving Collection 3366. Quérard III, p.485.

Item #22483

Price: $8,500.00