Introduction
1: Origins and Antecedents
2: The Idea of the Hermit
3: The Hermits
4: The Hermitage in Georgian England
5: The Celtic lands and the Continent
6: The Afterlife of the Hermit: from gnomes to Arcadia
Appendix: a Catalogue of Hermitages
Works Consulted
Index
Gordon Campbell is Professor of Renaissance Studies at the
University of Leicester. He is the author of the best-selling
Bible: The Story of the King James Bible and of many other books on
literature, art, history, and biography. A fellow of the British
Academy and a former chair of the Society for Renaissance Studies,
in 2012 he was awarded the Longman - History Today Trustees Award
for a lifetime contribution to History. In this book his interests
in
cultural history, architectural history, and designed landscapes
converge in a pioneering study of the phenomenon of the English
ornamental hermit and his hermitage.
Garden hermits have always been a reproach to luxury and a
fascination for voyeurs. They are back in the news because their
history has just been set out brilliantly by the distinguished
historian, Gordon Campbell.
*Robin Lane Fox, Financial Times*
This compelling book is meticulously researched and well written,
and superbly produced with excellent photographs and
illustrations.
*Garden Design Journal*
Gordon Campbell is extremely knowledgeable on garden history and
for the hermitage-bibber his book will be a valuable guide.
*The Oldie*
[A] gripping detective story, wonderfully written and illustrated,
with an astonishing conclusion. Unmissable.
*The Tablet*
[A] succinct and fascinating history ... Although scholarly, it is
written in a relaxed, non-academic style and is enlivened by a
nicely dry humour.
*Peter Parker, The Spectator*
[A] rollicking new history...a book for the enrichment of all our
lives.
*The Daily Telegraph*
The delicious subtitle of this fine little study - From Imperial
Rome to Ornamental Gnome - catches its tone perfectly. Gordon
Campbell treats the topic with the seriousness and attention to
detail one expects of a scholar, but he never falls into the
academic's trap of assuming his readers are would-be hermit
scholars.
*Country Life*
[An] engaging study of one of the oddest fads in garden design.
*Charles Elliott, Literary Review*
[An] intriguing book.
*The Lady*
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