A Sense Of Space: The Gardens Of Jan Blok By Lindsay Gray
A Sense Of Space: The Gardens Of Jan Blok (First Edition Hardcover Release in Archival Protection)
A Breathtaking Visual Tour and Design Masterclass Through South Africa's Premier Luxury Private Gardens
A Breathtaking Visual Tour and Design Masterclass Through South Africa's Premier Luxury Private Gardens
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: A Sense Of Space: The Gardens Of Jan Blok
- Author: Lindsay Gray
- Publisher: Struik Lifestyle Ltd (An Imprint of Random House Struik), Cape Town
- Publication Date: 2009
- ISBN-10: 1770077758
- ISBN-13: 9781770077751
- Edition Details: First Edition, Standard Hardcover Release.
- Binding: Original publisher's premium cloth boards, spine lettered in gilt, complete with original full-colour pictorial dust jacket under an archival protective wrap.
- Physical Format: Large Quarto (4to), 176 pages. Richly illustrated with high-fidelity, large-format colour photography capturing structural panoramas, botanical close-ups, and architectural layouts.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+)
o Exterior / Boards: The cloth boards are exceptionally flat, bright, square, and well-preserved. The corners remain perfectly sharp with no softening. The spine is completely straight, tight, unbroken, and undamaged, displaying zero vertical creasing or structural lean.
o Interior: The text block is robustly bound, tight, and immaculately clean. Internal pages and vivid landscape photography layouts are bright, white, and completely intact. Entirely free of standard user highlighting, previous owner gift inscriptions, library stamps, dealer pencil markings, or dog-ears. This copy has clearly been meticulously maintained and looked after.
o Special Protection: The book is safely preserved and protected within a fitted cellophane cover. -
The Dust Jacket: Very Good (VG)
o Description: Complete, bright, and structurally intact. Displays only very limited, micro-minimal signs of edge-wear and light shelf friction, fully consistent with careful long-term storage. Free of major chips, deep tears, or sun-bleached spine fading.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 2009, A Sense of Space: The Gardens of Jan Blok is a spectacular, large-format visual monograph chronicling the career-defining work of one of South Africa’s most celebrated landscape designers. Written by respected horticulturist Lindsay Gray, the book provides an exclusive, intimate tour through 16 of the country's most breathtaking private estates. Ranging from timeless, structured classic gardens to modern, minimalist, and Zen-like havens of tranquillity, Blok's work showcases an extraordinary innate ability to transform any environment—whether a sprawling, lush, well-wooded suburban estate or a modern terrace aloft an eleven-storey luxury apartment block. Each featured landscape serves as a brilliant interpretive extension of the home, utilizing innovative planting schemes, flawless architectural proportions, and an evocative use of colour and texture perfectly suited to modern African lifestyles. This scarce first-edition hardcover stands as both an inspiring reference work for garden lovers globally and an investment-grade volume for collectors of high-end South African design and botanical architecture.
Published in 2009, A Sense of Space: The Gardens of Jan Blok is a spectacular, large-format visual monograph chronicling the career-defining work of one of South Africa’s most celebrated landscape designers. Written by respected horticulturist Lindsay Gray, the book provides an exclusive, intimate tour through 16 of the country's most breathtaking private estates. Ranging from timeless, structured classic gardens to modern, minimalist, and Zen-like havens of tranquillity, Blok's work showcases an extraordinary innate ability to transform any environment—whether a sprawling, lush, well-wooded suburban estate or a modern terrace aloft an eleven-storey luxury apartment block. Each featured landscape serves as a brilliant interpretive extension of the home, utilizing innovative planting schemes, flawless architectural proportions, and an evocative use of colour and texture perfectly suited to modern African lifestyles. This scarce first-edition hardcover stands as both an inspiring reference work for garden lovers globally and an investment-grade volume for collectors of high-end South African design and botanical architecture.
Author Profile: Lindsay Gray
Lindsay Gray is a highly distinguished South African gardening authority, author, educator, and principal of The School of Garden Design. With decades of practical experience in landscape consultation and lifestyle journalism, Gray is widely respected for her deep structural understanding of exterior space and her ability to articulate the subtle balance between human architecture and living botany. Her written work, celebrated by professional landscapers and design academies alike, balances accessible narrative prose with profound technical expertise in indigenous flora and sustainable spatial layout. Alongside the celebrated creations of designer Jan Blok, her documentation serves as a cornerstone of modern South African landscape and horticultural literature.
Lindsay Gray is a highly distinguished South African gardening authority, author, educator, and principal of The School of Garden Design. With decades of practical experience in landscape consultation and lifestyle journalism, Gray is widely respected for her deep structural understanding of exterior space and her ability to articulate the subtle balance between human architecture and living botany. Her written work, celebrated by professional landscapers and design academies alike, balances accessible narrative prose with profound technical expertise in indigenous flora and sustainable spatial layout. Alongside the celebrated creations of designer Jan Blok, her documentation serves as a cornerstone of modern South African landscape and horticultural literature.
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