Elemental Architecturae Civilis

ALDRICH, Henry.  ELEMENTAL ARCHITECTURAE CIVILIS.

Oxford: D. Prince, and others, 1789. 8vo. Contemporary full-calf. Engraved frontispiece, (x), 54 pages; (iv), lxvi, 66, pages, 55 engraved plates. First edition. [Harris, 17].

Henry Aldrich (1648-1710) conceived of this work as a six-part study, but only two parts were written by the time of his death.  In 1708, only the first part was published in Latin illustrated with twelve plates.  This edition, in 1789 was the first edition of both parts, the complete work.  It begins with the Latin text and is followed by the first English translation of the work, complete with its own title page.  The translation was by Philip Smyth.  Thomas Jefferson recommended its purchase by the University of Virginia and a copy was finally donated by the Coolidge family of Boston in 1825 of the second edition (1818).  [See O'Neal, 5].  The work explains Vitruvius using plates based on Palladio's Quattro Libri.  Our copy contains a Subscription List, with two hundred and twenty-eight names.  The stipple, engraved frontispiece is by Geoffrey Kneller.  Eighteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate of "John Edwards," with his signature dates 1794 on front blank leaf.  Light, sporadic foxing throughout, else a nice copy in a sympathetic binding.

 

$1,100.00