The busiest man in England
Subtitle: the life of Joseph Paxton, gardener, architect, and Victorian visionary
By: by Kate Colquhoun.
Contributors: Colquhoun, Kate, 1964-
Edition: 1st U.S. ed.
Publisher: David R. Godine, Publisher
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 303
ISBN-13: 9781567923018
Subjects: Paxton, Joseph, Sir, 1803-1865.; Crystal Palace (London, England); Chatsworth (England); Architects -- Great Britain -- Biography.; Gardeners -- Great Britain -- Biography.; Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901 -- Biography.
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Today one would be hard pressed to choose a "Pre-eminent Victorian," a perfect embodiment of the golden age of innovation and energy. But among the Victorians themselves, it was agreed that one figure towered above the rest. Joseph Paxton bestrode the worlds of horticulture, urban planning, and architecture like a colossus. This was the indispensable man, the self-taught polymath with a solution to every large-scale logistical problem. Rising quickly from humble beginnings, Paxton at 23 became head gardener and architect at Chatsworth, the estate of the sixth Duke of Devonshire. Under Paxton's hands, Chatsworth was transformed into the greatest garden in England, Britain's answer to the hanging gardens of Babylon. Paxton also edited garden periodicals, helped found the London Daily News, and was a Liberal MP for Coventry, but it was his design for the Crystal Palace, home of the Great Exhibition of 1851, that secured his immortality"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Rev. ed. of: A thing in disguise. London : Fourth Estate, 2003.