Beschreibung:

KIP, Joannes (1719-1804)] Nouveau Theatre de la Grande Bretagne: ou Description Exacte des Villes, Palais du Roy, et les Ports de Mer, &c. du Dit Royaume, London: Thomas Millward, Jean Brindley, Robert Willcock & Bisphan Dickinson, 1735. 4 volumes, 2° (539 x 362mm). Titles printed in red and black, title of volume I with engraved Royal coat-of-arms, other titles with wood-engraved ornament, volume IV with additional engraved title, mounted on hinges throughout, text of volume IV in English and French, 254 engraved plates by Joannes Kip, almost all double-page or folding, some numbered as 2. (Vol. III lacking 5 plates, namely "Carte d' Angleterres, avec les Vues des Mers," "Jardins du [Wentworth]," "de l' Hotel d' Argyle, au Duc d' Argyle," "Prospect de la Ville & Chateau de Schoon ..." and "Vue du Chateau de Roy & Gicht," a few plates torn without loss or creased, some repaired, occasional light spotting and staining.) Contemporary mottled calf gilt, the covers with central gilt ornamental device with crowned initials "M. A. S." at centre, spines gilt in compartments with green and brown morocco lettering-pieces (lightly rubbed and scuffed). Provenance : Charles George Milnes Gaskell (armorial bookplate). Kip's magnificent work of topographical bird's-eye views of the castles, palaces and country houses of England was first published in 1707 under the title Britannica Illustrata containing 80 plates. By 1716 three more volumes were added and in 1728 a supplement was issued. Cf. Brunet IV, 114; Lowndes 1277. (4)