A selection of books on Central Park, its creators, its restoration and its beauty, available at the Dairy in Central Park, and at bookstores and libraries near you. Click on a link below to go a particular topic.
Central Park Guides
New York's 50 Best Places to Discover and Enjoy in Central Park
Karen Putnam & Marianne Cramer
1999, City & Company, New York
Barnes & Noble Complete Illustrated Map & Guidebook to CENTRAL PARK
Richard J. Berenson and Raymond Carroll
1999, Silver Lining Books, New York
Central Park Conservancy Guides
A Central Park Walk: The Conservatory Garden
A Central Park Walk: The Heart of the Park
Conservatory Water: A Tree Tour
Pinetum: The Arthur Ross Pinetum in Central Park: A Children's Walking Tour
Reservoir Tour: A Guide to the Plantings and Features Around the Central Park Reservoir
The Belvedere in Central Park
Nature Walks of Central Park
Dennis Burton
1997, Henry Holt and Company, New York
Bridges of Central Park
Henry Hope Reed, Robert M. McGee and Esther Mipaas
1990, Greensward Foundation, Inc., New York
Rock Trails in Central Park
Thomas Hanley and M.M. Graff
1976, Greensward Foundation, Inc., New York
Tree Trails in Central Park
M.M.Graff
1970, Greensward Foundation, Inc., New York
The City Observed
New York - A Guide to the Architecture of Manhattan
Paul Goldberger
1979, Vintage Books, New York
Frederick Law Olmsted Biographies
A Clearing in the Distance: Frederick Law Olmsted and America in the Nineteenth Century
Witold Rybczynski
1999, Scribner, New York
FLO - A Biography of Frederick Law Olmsted
Laura Wood Roper
1973, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Frederick Law Olmsted
Partner with Nature
Johanna Johnston
1975 Dodd, Mead & Company, New York
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.
Founder of Landscape Architecture in America
Julius Gy. Fabos, Gordon T. Milde, & V. Michael Weinmayr
1968, The University of Massachusetts Press
The Man Who Made Central Park
M.M. Graff
1982, Greensward Foundation, Inc., New York
Calvert Vaux Biographies
Calvert Vaux: Architect & Planner
William Alex
1994, Ink Inc.
Country, Park, & City: The Architecture and Life of Calvert Vaux
Francis R. Kowsky
1998, Oxford University Press, Incorporated
Frederick Law Olmsted's and Calvert Vaux's Writings
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume I - The Formative Years 1822-1852
Charles Capen McLaughlin, Editor
Charles E. Beveridge, Associate Editor
1977, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume II - Slavery And The South 1852-1857
Charles Capen McLaughlin, Editor
Charles E. Beveridge, Editor
David Schuyler, Associate Editor
1981, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume III - Creating Central Park 1857-1861
Charles Capen McLaughlin, Editor in Chief
Charles E. Beveridge, Editor
David Schuyler, Associate Editor
1983, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume IV - Defending The Union
The Civil War and the U.S. Sanitary Commission 1861-1863
Jane Turner Censer, Editor
1986, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume V - The California Frontier 1863-1865
Victoria Post Ranney, Editor
1990, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
The Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted
Volume VI - The Years of Olmsted, Vaux & Company 1865-1874
Jane Turner Censer, Editor
1992, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
Forty Years of Landscape Architecture: Central Park
Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.
1928, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
(Reproduced from Volume 2 of Frederick Law Olmsted, Landscape Architect, 1822-1903; Forty Years of Landscape Architecture; Being the Professional Papers of Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.)
Civilizing American Cities:
A Selection of Frederick Law Olmsted's Writings on City Landscape
Edited by S.B. Sutton
1979, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Villas and Cottages: The Great Architectural Style-Book of the Hudson River School
Calvert Vaux
1970, Dover Publications, Inc., New York
(Unabridged and unaltered republication of the second edition by Harpers & Brothers Publishers in 1864)
Landscape Architecture
Landscape Gardening and Rural Architecture
A.J. Downing
1991, Dover Publications, Mineola, NY
(Unabridged and unaltered republication of A Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening. Adapted to North America; with the View to the Improvement of Country Residences, 1841)
The Nature of Recreation
A handbook in honor of Frederick Law Olmsted, using examples from his work
Richard Saul Wurman, Alan Levy, Joel Katz
1972 MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Central Park's Creation and Restoration
Central Park, An American Masterpiece
A Comprehensive History of the Nation's First Urban Park
Sara Cedar Miller
2002 Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Publishers, in association with the Central Park Conservancy
For the bibliography, click here.
For the end notes, click on the following:
Endnotes - Introduction
Endnotes - Chapter 1
Endnotes - Chapter 2
Endnotes - Chapter 3
Endnotes - Chapter 4
Endnotes - Chapter 5
Endnotes - Chapter 6
American Green:
Class, Crisis, and Deployment of Nature in Central Park, Yosemite, and Yellowstone
Stephen A. Germic
2001, Lexington Books
Central Park
The Birth, Decline, and Renewal of a National Treasure
Eugene Kinkead
1990, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York
The Central Park Book
Elizabeth Barlow with Vernon Gray, Roger Pasquier, Lewis Sharp
1977 The Central Park Task Force
Central Park Master Plan 1973
Adrienne Bresnan, Joseph Bresnan
The City of NY/Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Administration/PRCA
Central Park-Prospect Park: A New Perspective
M.M. Graff
1985, Greensward Foundation, Inc., New York
A Description of the New York Central Park
Clarence C. Cook
Originally published in 1869. Reprinted in 1972 and 1979.
Benjamin Blom, Inc., New York
Frederick Law Olmsted's New York
Elizabeth Barlow
1972, Praeger Publishers, Inc., New York
Landscape Into Cityscape
Frederick Law Olmsted's Plans For A Greater New York City
Edited by Albert Fein
1967, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York
The Park And The People
A History of Central Park
Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar
1992, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY
Rebuilding Central Park - A Management and Restoration Plan
Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, Marianne Cramer, John Berendt and New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and Central Park Conservancy
1987, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA
Photographs and Other Works
212 Views of Central Park: Experiencing New York City's Jewel from Every Angle
Mick Hale
2002, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Inc.
Birds of Central Park
Cal Vornberger
2005, Abrams,Harry N Inc.
Central Park: A Photographic Excursion
James Freund
2001, Fordham University Press
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: On the Way to the Gates, Central Park, New York City
Jonathan David Fineberg, Wolfgang Volz
2005, Yale University Press
A World Through My Window
Ruth Orkin
1978, Harper & Rowe, Publishers, New York
A Year in Central Park
Laurie A. Waters
1992, Rizzoli International Publications, New York
Central Park
Bruce Davidson
2002, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Central Park
Bruce Davidson
1995, Aperture
Central Park: A Visit To One Of The World's Most Treasured Landscapes
Louise C. Burnham and George W.W. Packard
1993, Crescent Books, New York
Central Park (Postcard History: New York)
Edward J. Levine
2006, Arcadia
Central Park Postcards
Sonja Bullaty
1995, Abbeville Press, Incorporated, New York
More Pictures From My Window
Ruth Orkin
1983, Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., New York
The Old Pirate of Central Park (children's book)
Robert Priest
1999, Houghton Mifflin
Red-Tails in Love: A Wildlife Drama in Central Park
Marie Winn
1998, Pantheon Books
Stuart Little (children's book)
E.B. White
1974, Harper Trophy
Children's Books
Click here for the Children's Bibliography
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