Le Roy | Les ruines des plus beaux monuments de la Grece. Paris, 1757, contemporary calf

Julien David Le Roy

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

FIRST EDITION, 2 parts in one volume, large folio (559 x 417mm.), 60 engraved plates, those in part 1 being views and maps, those in part 2 being measured plans and elevations, contemporary calf, spine with raised bands in nine compartments, marbled endpapers, light spotting and browning, occasional transfer, part 2 pl. XV neatly repaired closed tear, binding rubbed with joints split

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 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

PROVENANCE:

Loverdos Collection, gilt bookplate and library stamp to rear paste-down