The essential annotated edition of Frederick Law Olmsted's first book

Before he ever dreamed of becoming a landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted visited southern England and Wales during a month-long walking tour. A gifted writer, he recorded his impressions of the trip in a richly detailed volume, first published in 1852. “In Walks and Talks,” writes Charles C. McLaughlin in his introduction, “Olmsted is reporter, social analyst, narrator, dramatist, scene-painter, and humorist, employing a wide range of modes and styles to give us the sights, sounds, and mental impressions of rural England in 1850.”

Olmsted's narrative—at turns poetic, funny, critical, and meticulous—is a delight to read. It is also an important historical document, revealing the extent to which England permeated Olmsted's emerging worldview, soon to find expression in his various careers as scientific farmer, author and publisher, social critic, reformer, administrator, and landscape architect of major parks and park systems throughout the United States.

The introduction, illustrated with plans and photographs of the sites he visited, clarifies the links between Olmsted's developing picturesque aesthetic, social conscience, and reformer's passion for change. McLaughlin argues persuasively that Olmsted would come to adapt many features of the cultivated England countryside—first seen on this trip—in designed landscapes such as New York's Central Park.

Extensive annotations to the original text furnish background and context to the people and places Olmsted encountered during his journey. The LALH edition also features an index of both Olmsted's text and the new introduction. A specially commissioned map of the region traces his walking route across the English countryside.