John Phibbs

Capability Brown

Designing the English Landscape

Rizzoli, New York

2016   |  305 × 230mm   |  280pp

One Man’s Vision. A great many books were published in 2016 to celebrate the tercentenary of Capability Brown's birth. If this book stands out in any way – beyond its authoritative text by John Phibbs –  it is because almost all the photography was newly commissioned from the Yorkshire-based landscape photographer Joe Cornish. So, the book is really about two men's vision: those of both Brown and Cornish. At a time when it is more usual to rely on stock photography from picture libraries and, increasingly, images borrowed from the internet, it is pleasure to be able to work for a publisher with the resources to instigate and fund a project in such a way. And it gives the design an unusual cohesion.