The Architecture; in Four Books... by PALLADIO, Andrea - 1721: Revis'd, Design'd, and Publish'd by Giacomo Leoni... The Second Edition.

London: Printed by John Darby for the Author, and all the Plates by John Vantack,, 1721. The cornerstone of English Palladianism Second edition of the first complete English version of Palladio's Quattro Libri (1570). Giacomo Leoni's lavishly illustrated edition originally appeared in five instalments between 1715 and 1720, with the text in English, French and Italian. It was an instant success and a second edition was quickly called for, with the text in English only. "[Palladio's] book exerted a powerful influence on contemporary architecture and classical ideals until the end of the eighteenth century. In England this was due to his enthusiastic follower Inigo Jones (1573-1632)... [who] copiously annotated his copy of the Architettura and these notes were incorporated into the first English translation made by Giacomo Leoni and published in 1715-16. Lord Burlington, Kent, Campbell, Chambers, Adam and others followed. 'Palladianism' became a party label in the world of connoisseurship and England blossomed with buildings 'in the Palladian style' - two centuries after Palladio had created it" (PMM). The editor, Giacomo Leoni, was a Venetian who came to London from Düsseldorf early in the second decade of the 18th century. For his influential edition of Palladio he "replaced the original woodcuts with copperplate-engravings produced by distinguished craftsmen in London and in Amsterdam where the print shop of Bernard Picart was the base for distribution of the book, which carried a French text, through Europe. The English translation was the work of Nicholas Dubois (c.1665–1735), and was based on a French edition of 1650 rather than on the 'Italian Original' mentioned on the title-page. While a complete English translation of Palladio was a key text in the growing interest in that architect, it was soon noted that Leoni's plates took liberties with Palladio's buildings. Although he claimed to have seen Palladian buildings for himself, as early as 1719 the young Lord Burlington noticed errors in his depiction of a cornice in Vicenza, and the elevation of the Villa Valmarana was substantially redesigned. A considerable subscription list accumulated during the course of the publication of the work; either Leoni or, more probably, Dubois ensured that half the artisan subscribers were members of building trades" (ODNB). Some 141 subscribers for this edition took a total of 175 copies, including the architect George Dance, the elder. Provenance: gilt leather armorial book labels of Granville Hastings Wheler (1780-1827), grandson of the experimental philosopher Granville Wheler (1701-1770); his label dated 1725, the year that his grandfather purchased Otterden Place, Kent, a house that was remodeled and enlarged by Granville Hastings, who commissioned the architect William Pilkington. "It is said that the designs were based on Wheler's sketches of the 16th century house, made from memory, but it is far from clear that his influence extended beyond mandating the choice of the Tudor style for the new elevations" (Kingsley). However, Palladio's work clearly influenced the "simple neo-classical treatment" of the interior (ibid.). 4 parts in 2 volumes, folio (440 x 270 mm). Early 19th-century calf, spines with five raised bands tooled with a triple gilt fillet, compartments richly gilt, new red morocco lettering labels, original olive green numbering labels, sides with a border of intersecting gilt fillets enclosing concentric panels of a gilt geometric-and-foliate roll and blind triple fillet with corner rosettes, gilt zig-zag edge roll, geometric turn-ins, Placard pattern marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Fine copperplate portrait of Palladio within an architectural cartouche by Bernard Picart after Paolo Veronese, allegorical frontispiece by Picart after Sebastiano Ricci, 218 numbered illustrations (15 double-page) on 203 sheets and 12 copperplates in the text, by Picart, Michael Vandergucht, John Harris, T. Cole and others. Bindings and a number of sheets professionally refurbished, some old abrasions to sides now skilfully mitigated, a number of leaves with old pale marginal damp stains, scattered foxing. A very handsome set. Fowler 224; Printing and the Mind of Man 92. Nicholas Kingsley, "Aucher of Otterden Place and Bourne Park", landedfamilies, 14 February 2017, accessible online.