Dissertation on Oriental Gardening: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Dissertation on Oriental Gardening, credited to William Chambers, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Dissertation on Oriental Gardening by William Chambers. Read in English by Peter Yearsley A little essay on the Chinese style of gardening, as opposed to the continental style, which the author finds too formal with too many straight lines, and the English style, about which he is equally disparaging. In his preface, he says that his dissertation is upon "... the Chinese manner of gardening, which is collected from my own observations in China, from conversations with their Artists, and remarks transmitted to me at different times by travellers." "... Their gardeners are not only Botanists, but also Painters and Philosofers... The Chinese Gardeners take nature for their pattern; and their aim is to imitate all her beautiful irregularities." and "... if all land-holders were men of taste, the world might be formed into one continued Garden ..." I hope that at least some of the wonderful constructions of the Chinese artist/gardeners still exist; bridges, cascades, and stony grottos, hidden temples and views through rainbowed waterfalls ... NOTES: 1 The author transliterated many Chinese words into English, but I have not been able to determine their correct pronunciation, and I apologise for mangling their sound, intonation, and meaning. 2 The author uses the word "awful" in its original sense of evoking awe, rather than the modern sense of unpleasant. (Summary by Peter Yearsley)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Dissertation on Oriental Gardening
• Author credits: William Chambers
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 7
• Listed recording duration: 3:33:31

Catalogue topics

• plants
• china
• gardens
• garden architecture
• garden design

Track guide

1. 01 - Preface — 15:01
2. 02 - Dissertation - part 1 — 32:21
3. 03 - Dissertation - part 2 — 32:32
4. 04 - Dissertation - part 3 — 30:32
5. 05 - Dissertation - part 4 — 27:30
6. 06 - Dissertation - part 5 — 34:51
7. 07 - Dissertation - part 6 — 40:44

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.