[Rarebooks] FOR SALE; ADAM, RUINS OF THE PALACE OF THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN

[Norman Kane]

ADAM, R[OBERT]
RUINS OF THE PALACE OF THE EMPEROR DIOCLETIAN AT SPALATRO IN DALMATIA BY R. ADAM, F.R.S., F.S.A., ARCHITECT TO THE KING AND TO THE QUEEN
Printed for the Author [London] 1764 First edition. Old (perhaps original) full leather with  black leather spine label, modest gilt decorations and rules (partially rubbed), and marbled endpapers. Folio (boards measure approx. 22 X 15", sheets measure 21 X 14.5"); iv, [7], [1 - blank], 33, [1 - blank] pages. [Corresponds to OCLC and ESTC]. Each leaf is signed individually as follows: [ ], a, a, b-d, B-S. Complete with 61 plates on 54 leaves, sixteen of which are double-page or folding, with the remainder full page (including frontispiece), as described. Due to their large size, six of the folding plates are printed on two sheets, pasted together as issued. Some wear to binding, with slight loss to spine ends; front board expertly reattached and both hinges now quite solid. Light scattered foxing, affecting majority of plates on margins only, with occasional and only minor impact on images themselves, excepting some moderate foxing to several folds of the larger plates and moderate foxing to the last two plates, which are still in acceptable condition. Most leaves bear a small area of browning to the lower corners (or at other places on the lower margins in the case of a few plates), no more than half an inch deep and in no way affecting text or images. Overall, a well-preserved example of this large and heavy tome, printed on heavy paper prone to foxing. Robert Adam (1728-1792) was a British architect, educated at the University of Edinburgh. During the early 1750's, he spent a few years in Italy studying the remains of Greek and Roman architecture. He found that the surviving architecture of the ancients consisted almost entirely of public buildings, and that the great private places had all but disappeared. An exception was the palace of Diocletian at Spalato (or Spalato) in Dalmatia, which had never been depicted . [The palace is located in present day Croatia, where the town is known as Spljet or Split]. "This Adam visited in July, 1757, taking with him the famous French architect and antiquary, C[harles] Louis Clerisseau, and two experienced draughtsmen, with whose assistance, after being arrested as a spy, he managed in five weeks to accumulate a sufficient number of measurements and careful plans and surveys to produce a restoration of the entire building in a fine work which he published in 1764, THE RUINS OF THE PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN, &c. Considering the shortness of time occupied and the obstacles placed in his way by the Venetian governor and the population of the place, the result was amazing. The influence of these studies was apparent directly and indirectly in much of his subsequent work, which indeed, was in great measure founded upon them." --Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed. Indeed the work brought Adam fame in England and, in 1762, he was appointed the king's architect, in which capacity he served for six years. In the course of his employment, and in subsequent enterprises conducted in partnership with his brothers, he built numerous public and private buildings in London and the English countryside. His most notable work was the Adelphi on the Thames embankment, which was greatly influenced by Diocletian's palace. He also accomplished Portland Palace, portions of the Admiralty, Fitzroy Square, and Finsbury Circus, and numerous grand private homes. The text of the present work consists of a dedication to the king, a seven-page list of subscribers, the author's introduction, a detailed description of the palace (pp. 5-17), and an explanation of the plates (pp. [19]-33. The magnificent plates include numerous detailed draughts of the palace architecture, four plans, fourteen pictorial views, and one pictorial map. The majority of the plates were executed by famed engraver Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815), who accomplished most of the views, and Francesco Zucchi. They were evidently the two draughtsmen who Adams refers to in his introduction. The other engravers were Paolo Santini, Edward Rooker, F. Patton, Domenico Cunego, A. Walker, and James Bassire. A very nice copy of this important work, a landmark in the illustration of antiquities that is equally important for its influence on English architecture.

$15,000.00   (Trade Discount Available)





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