[Quattro libri dell'architettura] The first book of architecture: by Andrea Palladio. Translated out of Italian, with an appendix touching Doors and Windows. by Pr. Le Muet Architect to the French King. Translated into English by Godfrey Richards. The whole illustrated with above seventy copper cuts. . . .; G. Sawbridge by PALLADIO, Andrea (1508-1580) - 1733

London: printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, and J. Osborn in Pater Noster-Row; S. Birt in Ave-Mary-Lane, and J. Hodges on London-Bridge, 1733. Early Reprint. Full Calf. Near Fine. Twelfth Edition, "corrected and enlarged, with a new model [south elevation] of the cathedral of St. Paul, London, as it is now rebuilt." Small 4to: [4],206,[2]pp, with letterpress title page in red and black, additional engraved title page, 67 engraved full-page plates (included in pagination and register), 6 folding plates, 15 woodcut diagrams in text, and decorative chapter dividers. Complete with the folding plate of St. Paul's, often lacking. Contemporary Cambridge-style calf, covers decorated in blind, plain spine divided into six compartments by raised bands, red morocco lettering piece gilt. A well-preserved copy, binding rubbed and lightly abraded but square and tight; end papers stained, with exuberant calligraphic owner's signatures in pencil and brown ink, dated November 1732 (interestingly, several months before date of publication!) and August 1735; pages and plates (in deep, rich impressions) generally clean and bright on heavy paper, with occasional finger-soiled or stained margins rarely touching text or images; two folding plates repaired on verso with Japanese tissue, without loss, along several creases. Harris (British Architectural Books) 682 and pp 348-351. BAL/RIBA 2410. Millard II, p. 193. Fowler, p. 180. . The first edition of this first English translation of Palladio's seminal work appeared in 1663, with all subsequent eighteenth-century editions, except for this, flawed with irregular pagination and plate numbering. A translation of Book One only, dealing primarily with the orders of architecture, but the essential book. The illustrations, much of the text, and some additional material on doors, windows, and staircases, are based on Pierre Le Muet's vulgarized partial French translation, entitled Traicté des cinq Orderes (Paris: Langlois, 1645). The final section presents original designs by William Pope for roof construction and timber framing. Thomas Jefferson owned the edition of 1700. "Since its first appearance as a small quarto in 1663, [Richards's translation] had been one of the few affordable and comprehensible manuals available to British builders and carpenters. . . . [F]or seventy years [through this twelfth and final edition of 1733], this portmanteau of designs had kept the name of Palladio alive in the British trade." (Millard) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable polypropylene sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to that association's codes of ethics.).