UMass Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press

Frank A. Waugh

Introduction by Linda Flint McClelland

A new edition of a book that helped shape American landscape architecture

In 1903, Frank Albert Waugh (1869–1943) founded an undergraduate program in “landscape gardening” at Massachusetts Agricultural College, only the second such program in the nation. The profession he helped to pioneer is now known as landscape architecture, and the college has become the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Waugh, who had moved to New England in 1895 from his native Midwest, was one of the first practitioners to conceive of a history of American landscape architecture. He was a renowned teacher and horticulturalist as well as a prolific writer on topics ranging from design to pomology, a talented printmaker, photographer, and flutist. While Waugh’s writings remained rooted in the principles of naturalistic nineteenth-century landscape gardening, his theories promoted modern applications.

The most comprehensive of Waugh’s several published books, and widely considered a classic in the field, Book of Landscape Gardening was first published in 1899 and revised several times. “Landscape gardening is eminently a fine art,” Waugh began each edition of the popular text that became a standard in professional practice. In the chapters that follow, he covers several general principles of design and discusses three basic styles—the natural, the architectural, and the picturesque.

The book achieved its broad appeal by striking a balance between well-known period examples and solutions that could be achieved by the professional designer, highway engineer, estate gardener, or average homeowner. Photographs, many of them taken by Waugh, depict far-ranging landscapes from Europe and Japan to diverse regions of the United States. Several plant lists and an annotated bibliography of landscape design sources accompany the text.

In this edition, a new introduction by historian Linda Flint McClelland examines Waugh’s contributions to landscape architecture during a period of great technological change, growing cultural sophistication, and economic prosperity.

“Widely considered a classic in its field, this book was first published in 1899 and revised several times. It includes photos taken by Waugh, showing landscapes in Europe and Japan, along with many in the U.S. In this edition a new introduction by historian Linda Flint McClelland examines Waugh's contributions to landscape architecture during a period of great technological change.”

Daily Hampshire Gazette

“Frank Waugh is one of the unsung heroes of American landscape architecture. By reissuing this long-out-of-print classic and articulating Waugh’s role as a designer, educator, and popularizer, Linda McClelland and the Library of American Landscape History have done a great service to the field.”

Tim Davis, Lead Historian, Park Historic Structures & Cultural
Landscapes Program, U.S. National Park Service

Linda Flint McClelland has worked as a historian for the National Park Service for more than twenty years. She is the author of Building the National Parks: Historic Landscape Design and Construction.

Landscape Architecture / Gardening
280 pp., 85 illus.
$34.95s cloth, ISBN 978-1-55849-521-0
March 2008

A volume in the ASLA Centennial Reprint Series, published in association with Library of American Landscape History

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