English expatriate Cecil Ross Pinsent was responsible for the design and construction of new villas and gardens such as the elegant rural estate La Foce, and the renovation of many historically sensitive ones, including Villa I Tatti, Villa Le Balze, and Villa Medici. Edith Wharton sought his advice; Vita Sackville-West and Harold Nicolson admired and were influenced by him. Geoffrey Scott, author of The Architecture of Humanism, dedicated the book to him; and Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe, England's premier landscape architect, regarded Pinsent as his "first maestro on the placing of buildings in the landscape." This first book dedicated to bringing to light Pinsent's contribution to garden design is generously illustrated with photographs from his previously unpublished albums and archive of architectural drawings and sketches, and his letters to family friends and clients.