Humphry Repton was one of the last great landscape gardeners of the eighteenth century. Most of Repton's work was fine-tuning the work of Lancelot 'Capability' Brown, creating vistas which better represented ideas of the 'picturesque' landscape which were popular by the end of the century.
This book considers landscape gardening in conjunction with the fashionable gothic and neoclassical architectural styles popular with the wealthy in the early nineteenth century. In it Repton makes judgements on which architectural style ought to be used depending on the appearance of the landscape in which the building was to be constructed.
Unlike Brown, who favoured the use of plans, Repton preferred illustrating and describing his proposals in a series of 'little red books' which he would give to prospective clients. In order to illustrate his proposals, Repton devised an ingenious method. The basic plate would display the projected view, while there would be hinged pieces of paper attached to it depicting the existing view. Clients would then be able to compare the two views much better than if the views were placed side by side.