Frederick Law Olmsted: Landscape Architect 1822-1903: Central Park as a Work of Art and as a Great Municipal Enterprise 1853-1895.

OLMSTED, Frederick Law. Edited by Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. and Theodora Kimball.

$4,000.00

Item Number: 129463

New York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1928.

First edition of the second volume of the autobiography of one of the foremost figures in American landscape architecture, Frederick Law Olmsted. Octavo, original cloth, illustrated, tissue-guarded frontispiece portrait of Olmsted. Edited by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Theodora Kimball. Association copy, inscribed by Frederick Law Olmsted on the front free endpaper, “To George Haven Putnam in appreciation alike of old friendships and of his constant helpfulness in the preparation of this book. Frederick Law Olmsted.” The recipient, American publisher George Haven Putnam, was the eldest son of George Palmer Putnam, the founder of G. P. Putnam’s Sons. Putnam published the books of many classic American authors including his close friend Washington Irving, William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe. Upon his father’s death in 1872, George Haven Putnam took over the business with his brothers John Bishop and Irving. He was made president of the firm, a position he held for the next fifty-two years. In 1884 he hired 26-year-old Theodore Roosevelt as a special partner; Roosevelt would write several works published by Putnam. Putnam had already retired from the family firm at the time of this volume’s issue, but was clearly still involved with this publication. Near fine in the rare original dust jacket which is in very good condition. An exceptional association copy.

Frederick Law Olmsted, Senior, was one of America's foremost artists and a founder of the profession of landscape architecture in the U.S. The Park as a work of art - designed by Olmsted and partner Calvert Vaux - and as a great and novel public enterprise undertaken by the City of New York has played a vital part in the political history and cultural life of the metropolis, and exerted a far-reaching influence on outdoor recreation and the landscape art in America.