De La Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance, et de la Decoration des Edifices en General.
1737. Paris: C.A. Jombert, 1737-8.
Two vols. 4to, title page in red and black, (vi, Dedication a Monsieur Turgot, Avis au relieur, Approbation), xvi, 198 pp.; vii, (i, Avis au relieur), 180 pp. Numerous head- and tail-pieces. Vol. 1 with engraved frontispiece (by Cochin) and 44 plates (42 folding); Vol. 2 with 111 plates (15 folding). Most of the plates drawn and engraved by Blondel. All text-pages printed within a borderline. Original cats-paw calf, rather worn, joints repaired, vol. 1 with new labels, internally some browning and soiling, a good solid set for reference not in "collector's condition".
§ First edition, second issue without half titles, errata slips, and with Jombert's address as "Rue Dauphine". A handsomely illustrated work of the 18th century French architect and writer Jacques-François Blondel (1705-1774). The plates in Vol. I includes many architectural designs for houses and those in Vol. II depict both interior and exterior ornaments, as well as garden plans. See Weinreb: "Arts Applied," #326 (£240!): "an important source book of rococo designs of the mid [eighteenth] century, surveys most aspects of the country house in an effort to point out the rights and wrongs of proportion, composition, and interior planning." Fowler 49. Berlin Cat. 2400. Graesse 1:441. Brunet 9800. Item #123537
Price: $2,750.00