[WEALE, John, ed.]

A very good copy of the first edition of John Weale’s popular collection of designs for country dwellings. Weale (1791-1862) was a London publisher specialised in architecture, engineering, educational and scientific works. In 1834, he purchased the Taylors’ Architectural Library publishing business. This first edition includes three groups of plates: nos 1-31 (etchings and aquatints) are a reissue of those that appeared in Edmund Aikin’s ‘Designs for Villas’ (1808); nos 32-55 (etchings and aquatints) are a reissue of those in Busby’s ‘Series of Designs for Villas’ (1808); and nos 56-67 (lithographs) appeared here for the first time. The plates are preceded by brief explanations, the first 55 of which include elevations and plans of country cottages and villas, depicted within a picturesque natural scenery, with specific room measurements and often accompanied by their cost. The previously unpublished plates, some after designs by Thomas Tatlock, provide most interesting façades and elevations, with measurements and cost estimates, for specific buildings, e.g., Dovercourt New Town in Harwich, villas in Kilburn Park and St John’s Wood, Westbourn Park near Paddington, Toriano Avenue in Kentish Town, and a Saxon Villa in Brighton. ‘The majority of designs in Weale’s book were in an Italianate style, with a few Gothic. A compilation from sources so diverse in time, type of dwelling and method of depiction, suggests the basic conservatism of the housebuilding industry in that such a range would be considered relevant to building needs’ (Long, pp.47-7).