Eric Chaim Kline, Bookseller - Old and Rare Books

De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance et de la Décoration des Edifices en General (On the Arrangement of Pleasure Houses, and the Decoration of Buildings in General) [COPY OF 18th CENTURY ARCHITECT NICOLAS MAILLIER]

Blondel, Jacques-François

Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1737. First edition. Contemporary calf. Two volumes, large quarto (28.5 by 21.5 cm.), published 1737-1738. Vol. I: [8], xvi, 198, [2, errata] pp. Engraved frontispiece, 44 numbered engraved plates (folding, except for 2 single-page). Vol. II: [8], 180 pp. 111 numbered engraved plates: no. 25 omitted; 11 nos. in duplicate, 2 in triplicate; 12 folding). Engraved head- and tailpieces, initials. Contemporary calf (light chafing at edges; expertly, and nearly-invisibly rebacked, with original spines laid down, corners and spine caps renewed); spines with raised bands, elaborately tooled in gilt; marbled endleaves. Titles in red and black within plain ruled borders. Mild marginal embrowning/foxing; ink stains affecting text at p.5 (vol. 2), else a very good set.

First edition, first issue, with half-title, and the errata leaf for both volumes at end of first volume I; in this issue the imprint reads: "pour l'Artillerie, à l'Image Notre-Dame."

The French architect and teacher, Jacques-François Blondel (1705-1774) ran his own highly successful school of architecture for many years. In 1762 he was appointed as Professor of Architecture at the Académie Royale d'Architecture. He published a popular text book, Cours d'Architecture (1771–1777) which largely superseded an earlier work by his famous namesake, François Blondel, who had previously occupied the same post. The present encyclopedic work was his first independent publication. The quality of its engraved plates secured for him a commission to produce engravings for the 1740 festival book commemorating the fêtes that celebrated the wedding of Madame Elizabeth of France with Dom Philippe of Spain. Cicognara's tart comment on the author of De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance deserves note: "Sfortunatamente l’epoca in cui questi visse non era la migliore pel gusto delle fabbriche, ma la sua dottrina e il suo modo di distribuzione lo costituiscono fra gli architetti migliori di quell’età. / Unfortunately, the era in which he lived was not the best for architectural taste, but his doctrine and his method of arrangement place him among the finest architects of that age."

The superb allegorical frontispiece drawn by Cochin, was engraved by Pierre Soubeyran (1709-1775), one of the most accomplished engravers of his day, a member of the French Academy of Sciences from 1742 to 1749, and later Head of the Public Drawing School in Geneva (École de Dessein de Genève, later known as École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève).

Provanance and annotations: Dated entry (1776) of Nicolas Maillier, Architect, at front endleaf in both volumes. He was the author of L'Architecture, Poëme en trois chants (1780); his unpublished 1770 manuscript with wash and ink drawings, Architecture raisonnée dans sa théorie: ou, Dissertations méthodiques sur la composition de cet art, is located in the Avery Classics Collection at Columbia University. Nineteenth-century engraved armorial plate "Foley" at front pastedowns, likely that of Thomas Henry, the fourth Baron Foley (1808-1869), who acquired for his library the albums of Chippendale's drawings for the first and third edition of the Director, which were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1920. Very good+. Item #55418

References: Digital Cicognara Library 435. Cf. Fowler 49 (first edition, second issue); Millard (French Books) 25.

Full title and imprint: De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance et de la Décoration des Edifices en General... Ouvrage enrichi de cent soixante plances en taille-douce, gravées par l'autheur. Tome Premier [-Second]. A Paris, Rue S. Jacques, chez Charles-Antoine Jombert, libraire du Roy pour l'Artillierie, à l'image Notre-Dame. M.DCC.XXXVII [...VIII].

Price: $3,750.00