Hordern House

BARTELL, Edmund Hints on Picturesque Improvements in Ornamented Cottages, and their Scenery... London, for J. Taylor, 1804

Octavo, with six tinted aquatint plates; a fine copy bound without the half-title in contemporary half green calf.

First edition of this influential series of three essays on the picturesque cottage. The first essay describes the cottage orné, "appropriate to the residence of a gentleman"; the second deals with related outbuildings; and the third, somewhat romantically, describes the cottages of the "labouring poor" because "beneath the rugged features and russet garb of humble life are, not unfrequently, found, feelings the most exquisite, and sentiments that would reflect honour upon the highest situations in life". The six fine aquatint plates are based on Bartell's original drawings.

James Broadbent (The Australian Colonial House) describes how Bartell's work exerted an important influence in NSW, particularly as he was perhaps the first to suggest that it was acceptable for the gentry to opt for the inexpensive but tasteful cottage orné instead of the substantial country house. Colonel John Campbell was one such colonial who took Bartell's advice in the construction of the picturesque Bungarribee at Eastern Creek, Sydney. More directly Bartell's influence can be seen in Tirana near Bathurst built in the mid-1830s by Dr. Gibson for Lady Franklin. Broadbent (p.350) points out that it "was, as Bartell recommended, roughcast, and 'covered with roses, honeysuckle, ivy, vines, etc.', which deprive it of the newness and nakedness which usually distinguishes the colonial country houses".

$A2850

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