Comprehensive Architectural Dictionary

 

ROLAND LE VIRLOYS, C.F.  DICTIONNAIRE D'ARCHITECTURE CIVILE, MILITAIRE ET NAVALE, ANTIQUE ET MODERNE.  Three volumes.

Paris: Libraires Associes, 1770-1771. 4to. Contemporary mottled calf. 100 engraved plates. First, and only edition. [Berlin Catalogue, 2427; O'Neal, 105; Sowerby, 4206].

Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of this, the major French eighteenth-century architectural dictionary.  It is illustrated with over seventeen hundred pages covering both ancient and modern architecture--domestic, public, and military.  Roland le Virloys was particularly interested in theater architecture and design.  The majority of buildings used to illustrate architectural terms were, not surprisingly, in Paris and its environs.  Many of the plates are double-page or folding.  The bindings have elaborately gilt spines and, although showing minimal wear, are bright and attractive.  A very good set.

$5,500.00