Le Roy. Les ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece, 1758. 2 parts in one volume. folio. half calf

LE ROY, JULIEN DAVID

Les ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grèce. Paris: Guerin & Delatour, and Jean-Luc Nyon; and Amsterdam: Neaulme, 1758

FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one volume, folio (500 x 360mm.), 60 engraved plates, those in part 1 being views, those in part 2 being measured plans and elevations, eighteenth-century half calf, spine gilt, old stamp erased from title, binding somewhat rubbed, joints splitting

This work introduced the architecture of classical Athens to Western Europe and remained a major source of inspiration for the Greek style for many years. Le Roy visited Greece in 1754 and achieved publication in advance of the first volumes of Stuart and Revett's The Antiquities of Athens, which appeared in 1762. By his own admission, strict accuracy of illustration was not Le Roy's main aim, and he was particularly keen to include accounts of his travels in Greece in order to avoid any monotony of description in the textual descriptions of the plates, as well as to convey, very much in accord with contemporary French taste, the soul of the most beautiful of the ruined monuments.

LITERATURE:

Atabey 709; Blackmer 1009