Olmsted's America: An "Unpractical" Man and His Vision of Civilization

Boston: Little, Brown and Company; A Bulfinch Press Book, 1995. ix, 270 pages, illustrations (some colour), maps (some colour); 27 cm. Firm binding, clean inside copy. Dust jacket protected in a mylar cover. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by arrangement. "While Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) stands among America's great innovators, his story is one of both enormous achievement and miserable failure, of public acclaim and official derision. Known as the Father of American Landscape Architecture, he is best recognized for his collaborative work with Calvert Vaux. Together they designed and built some of the greatest parks and public spaces in America, including Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Among Olmsted's numerous solo projects are Boston's Emerald Necklace, the grounds of the United States Capitol and the Washington Monument, and the extensive grounds at Biltmore, the Vanderbilt mansion in North Carolina." - Publisher. CONTENTS: One yeoman's beginning; lessons of the land; an American farmer in the new world; an important man; Central park, the beginning; Civil War, civil servant; nature, barbarity, and civilization; a civilized man professes architecture; Olmstead and Vaux, partners again; community design; the "unpractical man"; the end of a career; epilogue. Appendix: major works of Frederick Law Olmstead.. 1st. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 4to. Collectible.