556. LE BLOND (Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste), [DEZALLIER D'ARGENVILLE (Antoine-Joseph)]. La Théorie et la pratique du jardinage (The theory and practice of gardening), which deals in depth with beautiful gardens commonly called pleasure and cleanliness gardens, composed of parterres, bosquets, boulingrins, &c. Contenant plusieurs plans et dispositions générales de jardins ; nouveaux desseins de parterres, de bosquets, de boulingrins, labirinthes, salles, galeries, portiques & cabinets de treillages, terrasses, escaliers, fontaines, cascades, & autres ornemens servant à la décoration & embéllissement des jardins. New edition. Paris, Jean Mariette, 1722, in-4, [4] ff. n. ch. (title, notice, table of chapters), 294 pp, [5] ff. n. ch. table, with a few figures in the text and 38 plates engraved by Mariette, either double-page or folded, granite brown calf, ribbed spine with partitions and fleurons, speckled edges (period binding). Third edition. First published anonymously in 1709, the work was so successful that reprints, translations and forgeries multiplied, some of them under the name of Le Blond, who contributed only to the illustrations: it is Le Nôtre's style that is here popularized and promoted, with the European influence that we know until the 1770s. Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville (1680-1765) was one of the most illustrious naturalists of the 18th century, in the old-fashioned way of accumulating objects, notes and engravings, but he was unsurpassed in this role. Some light angular wetness at the beginning and middle of the volume, but a good copy.