The Gardens of Italy -
C. Latham, E. March Philipps
1905 - Country Life Ltd., London - First Edition
First edition, two large folio volumes of this monumental work by the English photographer Charles Latham, with an introduction and descriptions by Evelyn March Philips. Dedicated by special permission to his Majesty the King of Italy.
The descriptions and over 300 magnificent photographs guide you through the finest Italian estates, the Vatican, public gardens, and embassies.
Charles Latham's photographs of Italian gardens, taken during a trip in 1903, provide an extensive visual record of Renaissance and Baroque landscapes across the country. Commissioned by Country Life magazine, these images capture the grandeur of sites such as the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, where he documented the intricate Fountain of the Dragons and terraced fountains, and the Boboli Gardens in Florence, featuring the Lemonia grotto, the West Gate avenue, and parts of the circular lake. Other notable locations include the Villa Falconieri and Villa Torlonia in Frascati, as well as the Villa Farnese in Caprarola, emphasizing elements like sculpted terraces, fountains, and manicured parterres that defined Italian garden design. In all, Latham photographed thirty-seven gardens.
Volume I - Villa Albani, Villa Pamphilj Doria, The Vatican Gardens, Villa Borghese, Gardens of the Quirinal, Villa Medici, The Colonna Gardens, Palazzo Borghese, Fountain of Trevi, Palazzi Doria, Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Brancaccio, Villa Parisi, Villa Sciarra, the British Embassy in Rome, Villa Barberini, Villa D Este, Villa Falconieri, Mondragone, Villa Torlonia, Villa Aldobrandini
Volume II – Villa Farnese, Villa Lante, Villa Palmieri, Villa Garzoni, The Boboli Gardens, Villa Bondi, Villa Salviati, Villa Medici, Villa I Collazzi, Castello and Petraja, Villa Gamberaia, Villa Capponi, Villa Fabricotti and Villa Stibbert, Villa Montalto (vol. II). Charles Latham (1847-1912) was a British photographer best known for his meticulous documentation of English country houses, interiors, and gardens during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Serving as the staff photographer for Country Life magazine from shortly after its founding in 1897, he produced high-quality images that captured the architectural and horticultural heritage of notable estates, contributing to the magazine's reputation for visual excellence in covering rural life and design.
Before joining Country Life, Latham built a reputation working with publishers such as Batsford and Ernst Wasmuth, specializing in architectural and outdoor subjects. His early collaborations included providing photographs for J. A. Gotch's Architecture of the Renaissance in England and George Birch's book on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century London churches, such as St. Mary-le-Strand, which exemplified his skill in preserving historical structures through imagery.
Latham's photographic style emphasised scientific precision over artistic flourish, using sensitive plates to render colors and details with exactitude while minimising shadows for clarity. In In English Homes: The Internal Character, Furniture, and Adornments of Some of the Most Notable Houses of England (1904), he illustrated over 200 full-page plates of properties like Hatfield House, Haddon Hall, and Groombridge Place, often staging interiors to reflect historical periods from Tudor to Jacobean styles and ensuring factual accuracy for architects and historians.
His work at Country Life extended to gardens and landscapes, featuring both venerable sites and modern commissions by figures like Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, as documented in Gardens Old and New: The Country House and Its Garden Environment (1900–1905). Latham also traveled abroad, photographing Italian gardens in 1903 for The Gardens of Italy (1905), creating invaluable records of sites later impacted by wars and changes.[1][3]
Through these efforts, Latham's images not only promoted the aesthetic and historical significance of English heritage but also influenced preservation efforts, providing clear, unadorned views that stripped away Victorian alterations to reveal original features.
Provenance: Ownership inscription of Johan de Meester, Heerengracht 13, de Haag.
Two folio volumes (book size 40.3x29cm), pp. [12] 159 [3] ; [8] 144 [3]. Pagination is based on the publisher’s numbered text pages and photographic plates (of which the versos are not numbered. In the publisher’s blue cloth, spines decorated and lettered in gilt, upper boards with ornate gilt vignettes and gilt lettering, thick beige paper endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Fine in near fine cloth, with some rubbing to edges, with a strip of rubbing to the front panel lower edge of volume I. Ref: 112639 Price: HK$ 8,000
The descriptions and over 300 magnificent photographs guide you through the finest Italian estates, the Vatican, public gardens, and embassies.
Charles Latham's photographs of Italian gardens, taken during a trip in 1903, provide an extensive visual record of Renaissance and Baroque landscapes across the country. Commissioned by Country Life magazine, these images capture the grandeur of sites such as the Villa d'Este in Tivoli, where he documented the intricate Fountain of the Dragons and terraced fountains, and the Boboli Gardens in Florence, featuring the Lemonia grotto, the West Gate avenue, and parts of the circular lake. Other notable locations include the Villa Falconieri and Villa Torlonia in Frascati, as well as the Villa Farnese in Caprarola, emphasizing elements like sculpted terraces, fountains, and manicured parterres that defined Italian garden design. In all, Latham photographed thirty-seven gardens.
Volume I - Villa Albani, Villa Pamphilj Doria, The Vatican Gardens, Villa Borghese, Gardens of the Quirinal, Villa Medici, The Colonna Gardens, Palazzo Borghese, Fountain of Trevi, Palazzi Doria, Palazzo Barberini, Palazzo Brancaccio, Villa Parisi, Villa Sciarra, the British Embassy in Rome, Villa Barberini, Villa D Este, Villa Falconieri, Mondragone, Villa Torlonia, Villa Aldobrandini
Volume II – Villa Farnese, Villa Lante, Villa Palmieri, Villa Garzoni, The Boboli Gardens, Villa Bondi, Villa Salviati, Villa Medici, Villa I Collazzi, Castello and Petraja, Villa Gamberaia, Villa Capponi, Villa Fabricotti and Villa Stibbert, Villa Montalto (vol. II). Charles Latham (1847-1912) was a British photographer best known for his meticulous documentation of English country houses, interiors, and gardens during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Serving as the staff photographer for Country Life magazine from shortly after its founding in 1897, he produced high-quality images that captured the architectural and horticultural heritage of notable estates, contributing to the magazine's reputation for visual excellence in covering rural life and design.
Before joining Country Life, Latham built a reputation working with publishers such as Batsford and Ernst Wasmuth, specializing in architectural and outdoor subjects. His early collaborations included providing photographs for J. A. Gotch's Architecture of the Renaissance in England and George Birch's book on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century London churches, such as St. Mary-le-Strand, which exemplified his skill in preserving historical structures through imagery.
Latham's photographic style emphasised scientific precision over artistic flourish, using sensitive plates to render colors and details with exactitude while minimising shadows for clarity. In In English Homes: The Internal Character, Furniture, and Adornments of Some of the Most Notable Houses of England (1904), he illustrated over 200 full-page plates of properties like Hatfield House, Haddon Hall, and Groombridge Place, often staging interiors to reflect historical periods from Tudor to Jacobean styles and ensuring factual accuracy for architects and historians.
His work at Country Life extended to gardens and landscapes, featuring both venerable sites and modern commissions by figures like Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll, as documented in Gardens Old and New: The Country House and Its Garden Environment (1900–1905). Latham also traveled abroad, photographing Italian gardens in 1903 for The Gardens of Italy (1905), creating invaluable records of sites later impacted by wars and changes.[1][3]
Through these efforts, Latham's images not only promoted the aesthetic and historical significance of English heritage but also influenced preservation efforts, providing clear, unadorned views that stripped away Victorian alterations to reveal original features.
Provenance: Ownership inscription of Johan de Meester, Heerengracht 13, de Haag.
Two folio volumes (book size 40.3x29cm), pp. [12] 159 [3] ; [8] 144 [3]. Pagination is based on the publisher’s numbered text pages and photographic plates (of which the versos are not numbered. In the publisher’s blue cloth, spines decorated and lettered in gilt, upper boards with ornate gilt vignettes and gilt lettering, thick beige paper endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Fine in near fine cloth, with some rubbing to edges, with a strip of rubbing to the front panel lower edge of volume I. Ref: 112639 Price: HK$ 8,000