Les Bâtimens et les desseins de André Palladio recueillis et illustrés par Octave Bertotti Scamozzi... Seconde edition [with] Les Thermes des Romains by [PALLADIO] SCAMOZZI, Octave Bertotti - 1786

Vicenza: Jean Rossi, and Modena, 1786. A few plates lightly browned (due to paper type), one plate with a small repaired tear, otherwise in excellent condition.. Three volumes, folio, comprising: "Les Bâtimens et les desseins", four parts (bound in the first two volumes), each with separate decorated title-pages, portrait frontispiece to the first volume and a total of 208 engraved plates, many folding; "Les Thermes", being the third volume of the set, with portrait frontispiece and 25 plates; splendid contemporary uniform quarter calf binding, spines gilt with red and black labels. A fine set, in attractive contemporary bindings, of this important scholarly edition of buildings and projected designs by Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). Inspired by classical design, Palladio was among the first architects to design unfortified rural houses. In his Quattro Libri dell' Architettura of 1570, he had presented idealised houses and projects which became universal patterns for future generations. However Scamozzi here created an objective record of Palladio's existing buildings as actually constructed. The proliferation of Palladian building in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was in no small part due to these books acting as a catalyst for builders and designers as well as architects. The impact was global - perhaps the best example of Palladio's reach was Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, while at the other end of the world there are numerous fine colonial Australian examples, including Camden Park, Government House in Parramatta and Panshanger at Longford in Tasmania. Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi (1719-1790) was the leading Palladian Revival architect working in Italy; he built many prominent houses in and near Vicenza. However 'he is more important as the editor of Palladio's work' (Penguin Dictionary of Architecture). Scamozzi carefully measured many of Palladio's important houses and buildings, many of which were inaccessible to the public. As an accurate record of Palladio's built works, Scamozzi's accomplishment is unparalleled: 'The quality of Scamozzi's work is remarkable, and it is not surprising to find that many of his plates have been used by leading authors on the work of Palladio, to illustrate their monographs' (Quentin Hughes, in his introduction to the 1968 London facsimile). Sumptuous and extravagant, Les Bâtimens et les desseins de André Palladio was published in the tradition of Campbell's Vitrivius Britannicus and similar grand folios of the eighteenth century. The quality and number of plates is impressive, and given that many of these buildings have been destroyed or subsequently altered beyond recognition they are of significant historical value. The Basilica in Vicenza is one such example; tragically bombed during the Second World War, it was faithfully restored using Scamozzi's plans and the municipal archives. The third volume in this uniformly bound set is Les Thermes which publishes Palladio's measured plans of Roman baths. Palladio never published these drawings and they remained at his Villa Maser until purchased by Richard Boyle, the third Earl of Burlington. In 1732 Burlington published them in a very small edition for his immediate circle. Scamozzi recognised their importance within the Palladian canon and republished them without alteration. Les Thermes was sold both as a separate volume and as part of the set, as seen in this example.