Lot 27
Vitruvius Pollio, Marcus--William Newton
Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: 16 January 2008 at 11:00 GMT
Description
The architecture of M. Vitruvius Pollio, translated... by W. Newton, architect. London: I. and J. Taylor, R. Faulder &c., 1791, 2 volumes, large folio, engraved frontispiece portrait after Robert Smirke and 46 plates engraved by James Newton, contemporary half calf, neatly rebacked, spine tooled in gilt and blind, new marbled sides, light dampstaining to extreme lower corner of a few plates, volume 1 bound without the preface (pp. [iii]-viii) found in some copies
Footnote
Note: A very good copy of William Newton's edition. In 1771 Newton published an English version of Vitruvius's De architectura so that - as he explained in the preface - England might not be the only "polished nation" that did not possess Vitruvius in its own tongue. In this copy the plates of Volume I are numbered and there is no alteration slip pasted onto the imprints. Many of the plates have been re-engraved and some of the figures enlarged. This two-volume edition was published by James Newton who states in his notice "To the Public" that all of Volume I and part of Volume II were printed before his brother's death in 1790. Brunet V, 1331; Cicognara 736; Fowler 428.