Details
WILKINS, William (1778-1839). The Antiquities of Magna Graecia. Cambridge: at the University Press by Richard Watts, for Longman, Hurst, Orme and Rees, 1807.
2° (523 x 355mm). Title with engraved vignette, 13 engraved plates as head- and tailpieces, including 4 sepia aquatints, 73 engraved plates comprising 52 line-engravings of measured drawings, one double-page, and 21 sepia aquatint views. (Occasional light spotting to title and some text leaves). 19th-century tan morocco gilt, the sides tooled with wide Greek-style borders, with Botfield arms added at centre, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (spine slightly faded).
FIRST EDITION of a work whose publication coincided with the adoption of Wilkins's designs for Downing College, Cambridge, the first example of the true Greek revival in England. He had spent four years investigating the architecture of Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily and Italy. The fine plates include views, maps, and plans and sections of the temples at Paestum, Aegesta, Agrigentum and Syracuse. The list of subscribers includes such eminent figures as Elgin, Repton and Sir Joseph Banks. Abbey Travel 128; Blackmer 1797.
2° (523 x 355mm). Title with engraved vignette, 13 engraved plates as head- and tailpieces, including 4 sepia aquatints, 73 engraved plates comprising 52 line-engravings of measured drawings, one double-page, and 21 sepia aquatint views. (Occasional light spotting to title and some text leaves). 19th-century tan morocco gilt, the sides tooled with wide Greek-style borders, with Botfield arms added at centre, marbled endpapers, gilt edges (spine slightly faded).
FIRST EDITION of a work whose publication coincided with the adoption of Wilkins's designs for Downing College, Cambridge, the first example of the true Greek revival in England. He had spent four years investigating the architecture of Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily and Italy. The fine plates include views, maps, and plans and sections of the temples at Paestum, Aegesta, Agrigentum and Syracuse. The list of subscribers includes such eminent figures as Elgin, Repton and Sir Joseph Banks. Abbey Travel 128; Blackmer 1797.
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