Letters about gardens

Letters about gardens Ignacy Krasicki was prepared based on  the fifth volume of the poet's works, published in Warsaw in 1803. Their publisher, Franciszek Dmochowski, claimed that the Prince Bishop had finished Letters about gardens a few days before his death.

Enlightenment gardens

The choice of topic is not surprising. For people living in the eighteenth century, gardening was one of the most important forms of activity. Knowledge of it was valued as highly as erudition and a passion for collecting. Izabela Czartoryska wrote about gardens. " I garden " - Bishop Krasicki is said to have said, taking care of plants. Not without pride, he also wrote on April 7, 1787 "[...] and I forgot to mention the garden. Astrakhan apples came to me, and I have forty-two kinds of roses. Three thousand bulbs from London, Amsterdam, Harlem, Sardaam , Hamburg, Berlin are already on their way; bushels of seeds, and trees without number."

His nephew (also Ignacy) wrote: "[...] He devoted himself to science not only in the privacy of his home, but also to the liberal arts, gardening, and decorating his houses. He had a sufficient field in Heilsberg (i.e. Lidzbark) to do all this. Having found the old castle there, enlarged by his predecessors, he decorated it as beautifully as possible inside and outside. Having thrown away the towers, ramparts, moats formerly used for defense, now unnecessary, he made the most beautiful gardens and what was to the eye and useful. For by the walls turned to the south, he made trephauses , greenhouses, the most exquisite fruits and flowers were from them, although the Warmia climate was very much against it. Promenades, groves, trees with the greatest taste he adapted to the position of the castle, which lies between two rivers, Zimzer (i.e. Symsarna ) and Halo (i.e. Łyna) only waited for a lord with taste to make this place one of the beautiful ones. Having lived to see the improvement and shaping of this place, he also saw its ruin. For having become the archbishop of Gniezno, Count Hohenzollern [i.e. Karol von Hohenzollern ]. He, having a residence also beautified by himself in the Oliwa Abbey, did not live in Heilsberg . Therefore, those beautiful gardens, tastefully decorated rooms were ruined and spoiled. The prince saw this change a few years after his departure, passing through Heilsberg ; he was sorry, but consoled himself, reflecting on the instability of fate in the world".

The book was set in Monotype Bell and Monotype Bulmer fonts and printed on Fabriano 5 cotton paper in an edition of 25 copies.
Hand-made binding, provided with a case. Marbled block margins. The frontispiece features a graphic by Flora Francesco Bartolozzi.

8vo, 64 pp, edition of 25 copies.