![ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia. [London:] for the author, 1764.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2012/NYR/2012_NYR_02607_0111_000(adam_robert_ruins_of_the_palace_of_the_emperor_diocletian_at_spalatro115314).jpg?w=1)
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia. [London:] for the author, 1764.
Details
ADAM, Robert (1728-1792). Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia. [London:] for the author, 1764.
Broadsheets (532 x 387 mm). Engraved frontispiece and 60 engraved plates (14 double-page, some folding) on 54 leaves, by Francesco Bartolozzi, [Francesco, Antonio and Giuseppe] Zucchi, Francis Patton, Paolo Santini, and others (some light staining). 19th-century calf (joints starting, wear to edges and spine). Provenance: Duke of Leeds (armorial bookplate); Lord Westbury (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION OF THIS MAGNIFICENT WORK. Adam's book, with its elaborately engraved views, was the outcome of his visit to Spalatro (Split) during his Grand Tour. It was intended to emulate the success of Robert Wood's The Ruins of Palmyra, published in 1763. Spalatro seemed perfect for such a project, being the only significant unexplored classical site to hand. In Florence, Adam had met the architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820), who was to be Adam's instructor for the next two years and who was to supervise much of the engraving for the book in Venice and London. The engravings were probably based on drawings by Clérisseau (six of which are preserved in the Hermitage Museum), and were said by the Critical Review in October 1764 to possess "a taste and execution that has never been equalled in this country." Indeed, when Adam returned to Britain in 1758, "the custom's officer at Harwich had so admired the drawings that he had charged no duty" (Millard, p.5). Millard II, 1; Berlin Kat. 1893; Brunet I:46; Cicognara 3567.
Broadsheets (532 x 387 mm). Engraved frontispiece and 60 engraved plates (14 double-page, some folding) on 54 leaves, by Francesco Bartolozzi, [Francesco, Antonio and Giuseppe] Zucchi, Francis Patton, Paolo Santini, and others (some light staining). 19th-century calf (joints starting, wear to edges and spine). Provenance: Duke of Leeds (armorial bookplate); Lord Westbury (bookplate).
FIRST EDITION OF THIS MAGNIFICENT WORK. Adam's book, with its elaborately engraved views, was the outcome of his visit to Spalatro (Split) during his Grand Tour. It was intended to emulate the success of Robert Wood's The Ruins of Palmyra, published in 1763. Spalatro seemed perfect for such a project, being the only significant unexplored classical site to hand. In Florence, Adam had met the architect Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820), who was to be Adam's instructor for the next two years and who was to supervise much of the engraving for the book in Venice and London. The engravings were probably based on drawings by Clérisseau (six of which are preserved in the Hermitage Museum), and were said by the Critical Review in October 1764 to possess "a taste and execution that has never been equalled in this country." Indeed, when Adam returned to Britain in 1758, "the custom's officer at Harwich had so admired the drawings that he had charged no duty" (Millard, p.5). Millard II, 1; Berlin Kat. 1893; Brunet I:46; Cicognara 3567.