• 'In this book-making age': Edward Kemp (1817-91) as writer and communicator of horticultural knowledge [extended version]

    Author(s):
    David Bawden (see profile)
    Date:
    2019
    Group(s):
    CityLIS
    Subject(s):
    Library science, Information science, Gardens, History, Landscape gardening, Publishers and publishing
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    Edward Kemp, Victorian Gardens, Public parks, Birkenhead, Bradbury and Evans, Library and information science, Garden history, Victorian culture, Publishing history
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/sdw8-sh10
    Abstract:
    Edward Kemp, although best known as a park superintendent and as a designer of parks and gardens, was also an influential and best-selling author. His How to Lay out a Garden, running into several editions, is the best known and most influential of his written works, but there were others, notably editions of the Hand-Book of Gardening, and Parks, Gardens etc. of London and its Suburbs, the first ever such regional survey. He assisted Joseph Paxton with the editing of his publications, and was a regular and thoughtful contributor to magazines, most notably the Gardeners' Chronicle, where his critiques, such as that of the then new gardens of Biddulph Grange, received considerable attention. He, along with John Gibson and Edward Milner, was one the protégées of Joseph Paxton who did so much for the dissemination of horticultural knowledge, as authors, editors and compilers, in the midst of the nineteenth century communications revolution. It will consider Kemp's role and influence as an innovative writer and disseminator, considering the structure, format, content, and reception of his published work, his relationship with his publishers, and his place in the Victorian information world. This extended version of the article has some added material on Kemp's life and work, additional remarks on analogies with present day gardening writers, additional links to digitised versions of original materials, and extra images.
    Notes:
    This is an extended version of an article published in Garden History, 2018, vol. 46, supplement 1, a special open access issue to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Edward Kemp. Original version available at http://thegardenstrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/GH-46-8_Bawden.pdf.
    Metadata:
    xml
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    4 years ago
    License:
    Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives
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