James Gibbs | A book of architecture, 1739

James Gibbs

A book of architecture, containing designs of buildings and ornaments. London: printed for W. Innys and R. Manby, 1739

Folio (464 x 295 mm.), title, dedication leaf, 150 engraved plates (of which some double-page or folding), with a (presumably nineteenth-century) pencil sketch of a Palladian barchessa loosely inserted beside plate 32, contemporary mottled calf, spine with raised bands in eight compartments, morocco label to second compartment, sprinkled edges, title creased, first plate with some creasing and small closed tear at fold, rebacked, but retaining original spine, extremities rubbed

Second edition of "the first collection of the work of a single architect to be published in Britain", whose "influence on design, and on architectural publishing in the eighteenth century was immense" (BAL RIBA). Thomas Jefferson is known to have owned a copy. The initial publication of this work in 1728 was spurred on by the appearance of the final volume of Vitruvius Britannicus (1725), which included designs from all leading British architects of the day except Gibbs.

PROVENANCE:

John Grant, early ownership inscription to title; Viscount Gage (perhaps Thomas Gage, 1st Viscount Gage (c.1695-1754), who had extensive remodeling work done on Firle Place, Sussex, between 1743 and 1753), armorial bookplate and printed shelfmark ("Case L, Shelf 7.")

LITERATURE:

This edition not in BAL RIBA or Fowler (cf. BAL RIBA 1206 and Fowler 138 for first edition, also calling for 150 plates)