PALLADIO, Andrea.
ENGLISH PALLADIANISM
The Architecture of Palladio; In Four Books [...] revis\'d, Design\'d, and Publish\'d By Giacomo Leoni [...] Translated from the Italian Original [by Nicholas Du Bois].
London, Printed by John Watts, for the Author, 1715 [1716-1720].£15,000.00
FIRST EDITION. Folio. 4 books, the last in 2 parts, bound in four volumes (3-4.1 bound together). pp. 1) English: 16 prelim. 1-54, Italian: 4 prelim. i-xxx, French: 6 prelim. 1-33, 1 blank. With 12 engraved illustrations and 31 leaves of plates. 2) English: 4 prelim. 1-37, 1 blank, Italian: 4 prelim. i-xxi, 1 blank, French: 2 prelim. [1] 2-23, 1 blank. With 61 plates on 61 leaves. 3) English: 6 prelim. [1] 2-37, 1 blank, Italian: 2 prelim. i-xxii, French: 2 prelim. 1-23, 1 blank. 22 plates on 20 leaves, 1 folding. 4.1) English: 6 prelim. [1] 2-33, 1 blank, Italian: 2 prelim. i-xx, French: 2 prelim. 1-20. 54 plates on 47 leaves, 6 folding. 4.2) English: 4 prelim. 1-17 [18-22], Italian: 2 prelim. i-xii, French: 2 prelim. 1-12. 50 plates on 43 leaves, 7 double-page. Plates interspersed with English text. Engraved frontispiece and supposed author portrait, by Sebastiano Ricci (1716). Roman letter, some italic, woodcut initials, headpieces and tailpieces. With the list of subscribers. Wide margins on thick paper, the odd little marginal spot or finger mark, one small hole in book 1 obscuring one letter, a couple of minor tears not affecting text and one longer one following the edge of plate VIII in book 1, not touching the engraving. Corner torn off leaf with plate XIX book 3, not affecting plate. Occasional C18 pencil markings and annotations, mostly in first two books, including a small sketch of a column in vol.2 p.7. Light glue stain to two edges of title page in book 2. Some ink transfer to plates in books 3-4 (wet sheets), particularly book 4.1, generally light. Very good, clean, well margined copies with plates in excellent impression. In contemp. calf, gilt tooled to a panel design with gilt tooled fillet borders, outer edges gilt, rebacked to match. Spine with six raised bands, labels in red and black with title and volume numbers. Gilt stamps to compartments. Some scuff marks, wear to upper cover of vol. 2. Ex-lib. John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont (1683-1748) his armorial bookplate in all 4 volumes, dated 1715 with his former title Baron Burton. Later ink ms ‘[F]ostres Vokely, Bristol’ to pastedowns. Ex-libris sticker of Roman + Marianne Reiser, dated 9.10.1976, probably German architect Roman Reiser (1920-2023).
A beautiful copy of ‘the first complete edition in English of Palladio’s Quattro Libri ‘, with Giacomo Leoni’s revised and elaborate illustrations (Harris). This copy belonged to John Percival, 1st Earl of Egmont, a member of the original 1715 list of just 163 subscribers. An Anglo-Irish politician who received his peerage in 1715, Percival had a keen interest in architecture and the fine arts, so much so that two sketches were dedicated to him in Campbell’s Vitruvius Britannicus (1715-1717). This copy features a complete set of the architectural plates designed by Leoni from Palladio’s original woodcuts, bound in order through the English text so it reads continuously. Leoni (1685-1746) was an Italian architect who worked for the Elector Palatine, and he settled in England in the early eighteenth century. His enlarged, detailed, copperplate designs are the most distinctively luxurious aspect of his edition, with three additional plates copied from Fréart de Chambray’s 1650 French edition giving this lavish edition some 215 elaborate illustrations. ‘[T]he most elaborate of his plates, thirty-nine in all, were engraved in Amsterdam by Bernard Picart himself’, the others by London engravers (Harris).
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) was a hugely influential Italian Renaissance architect whose style was introduced to England by Inigo Jones (1573-1652). His I quattro libri dell’architettura (1570) is a study of the principles of architectural design inspired by classical styles. The first book covers building materials and techniques, as well as styles of columns and staircases, the second focuses on the design of town and country houses, the third on city planning and the fourth on temple design. The 1715 edition put together by Leoni supplies the text in English, Italian and French, translated by Nicholas Du Bois not from the original Italian but from Fréart de Chambray’s French edition. Leoni’s plans to include Inigo Jones’ notes on the work were foiled by Dr George Clark, the owner of Jones’ copy, who refused to let him publish them until a later edition of 1742 (Harris, Fowler). An apology for the omission precedes the text of Book 4. The work was published by subscription over a four-year period, and subsequently went through two further editions in 1721 and 1742. Leoni’s project was proudly a creative one, which he asked to ‘be rather considered as an Original, than an Improvement’. This first full English translation marks a hugely important starting point for the surge of English Palladianism, which inspired buildings such as Houghton Hall in Norfolk and Mereworth Castle in Kent. A well-preserved, complete copy of significant interest to the history of English classical architecture, with interesting early provenance.
“Palladio’s lasting influence on architectural style in many parts of the world was exercised less through his actual buildings than through his textbook. […] his book exerted a powerful influence on contemporary architecture and classical ideals until the end of the eighteenth century”. Printing and the Mind of Man pp. 56-7.
ESTC No. T95463. Harris 683. Fowler 229.