The Complete Gard'ner; Or, directions for cultivating and right ordering of fruit-gardens and kitchen gardens ... Now Compendiously Abedg'd, and made more Use with very considerable additions ... Fifth Edition Corrected by LA QUINTINYE, Jean de (1624-1688) - LONDON, George (c.1640-1714); and Henry WISE (1653-1738) - 1710

London: Printed for Andrew Bell, 1710. 8vo. [2], xxxvi, 325, [7]pp. Engraved frontispiece and 10 engraved folding plates. Contemporary panelled calf, spine with raised bands in six compartments Provenance: H. Middleton (early signature on verso of the frontispiece); Richard Middleton (signature on endpaper) Influential English edition of the most important work by the leading French gardener of the seventeenth century: based on the translation by John Eveyln. In 1693, John Evelyn translated La Quintinie's Instruction pour les jardins fuitiers , first published in Paris in 1690. "Evelyn's Compleat Gard'ner was not reprinted. This handsome folio volume with its portrait frontispiece and many copper-plate engravings must have been an expensive book to produce and also costly to purchase ... The astute Mr. London and Mr. Wise, however, appear to have realized that a book based on this work and condensed so as to present only the most useful information would be of greater value to the practical gardener, and at the same time have a much wider popular appeal" (Henrey). London and Wise's edition was indeed popular; first published in 1699, at least five subsequent editions were published by 1717. "This shorter version was obviously the main vehicle for the spread of La Quintinie's methods in England, where his influence lasted well into the next century" (Oak Spring Pomona). London and Wise "built up Brompton Park to be the foremost nursery garden in the country. Furthermore, they became the leading garden designers of the period ... Chatsworth, Castle Howard, and Melbourne are but three of the famous gardens with which these men's names are associated" (Henrey). Henrey 223; ESTC T142667; Raphael, Oak Spring Pomona 3.