Beschreibung:

CAMPBELL, Colin (fl. 1715-1729), John WOOLFE (d. 1793) and James GANDON (1743-1823). Vitruvius Britannicus; or, The British Architect, containing the plans, elevations, and sections of the regular buildings, both publick and private, in Great Britain. London: [1731]-1767-1771. 2° (478 x 290mm). Parallel text in English and French. Volume I with engraved title, engraved dedication to George I and 84 plates numbered 3-100; volume II with engraved title and 74 plates numbered 2-100; volume III with letterpress title in red and black and 74 (of 75) plates numbered 3-102; volume IV with engraved title, engraved dedication to George III and 79 plates numbered 1-98; volume V with engraved title, engraved dedication to Queen Charlotte and 73 plates numbered 3-100. (Some light browning in vol. I, vol. III lacking the Umberslade plate numbered 101/102, and with occasional browning, vol. IV with repair to a split near the fold of plate 22/23, rebacking to a hole in blank area of plate 68/69, and with other folding plates strengthened on verso, some plates in this volume also strengthened at foremargin, plate 43 in vol. V slightly soiled at margin.) Contemporary half russia and marbled boards, smooth gilt spines (some splits to joints, light rubbing, some corners bumped, spine of vol. III slightly worn at head). Third edition of volumes I-III, first edition of the supplementary volumes IV-V, with a total of 384 architectural plates, including 91 double-page, each numbered as two, and 5 quadruple-page numbered as 4. Vitruvius Britannicus is well known as the first work to focus attention on the architectural merit rather than the topographical situation of the nation's great buildings. Although the project was initiated by a group of print dealers, they found in Colin Campbell just the skilled architectural draughtsman needed to execute their plans, adopting him as the author sometime after June of the year preceding publication. Volume I was already in print by 9 April 1715, and volume II followed in March 1717. Pressure on the publishers to give a Palladian slant to the work had come from the impending appearance of Leoni's Palladio, the first complete edition of the Quattro libri in English. As Eileen Harris records, Campbell's own unmistakeably Palladian designs were actually introduced as late insertions in volume I. The splendid but outmoded baroque perspectives which they replaced were then reintroduced into volume III when this was finally published in 1725. All the engravings in volumes II-III, and most of those in volume I, were by Henry Hulsbergh, although those in the first volume are not signed, probably for reasons of haste. The 2-volume continuation by Woolfe and Gandon was mostly devoted to buildings executed after 1750 by living architects, and though it was never issued by the same publishers it was always intended to be bound up with the 1731 (or later undated editions) of Campbell's work. Harris 102 & 945; cf. Fowler 76. (5)