Antiquities and Views of Castles & Abbeys of England and Wales. "First Sett of Twenty four Views . . of Abbys, Castles" in the Principality of Wales .. Pembrokeshire and Caermarthenshire. First printing.

London: Saml. & Nathl. Buck, No. 1 Garden Court, Middle Temple, April 5th 1740. Contemporary vellum spine and corners and paper covered boards, age worn. Oblong 2° (305 x 470mm). 24 engraved plates printed on single sheets. (Occasional time stains in margins, some edges slightly frayed with light dust soiling, but not into images.) There is an engraved list of the prints and the subscribers followed by the 24 plates. This is the first printing, which was published is sets of 24 plates for England and Wales at two guineas per set.Samuel Buck (1696–1779) and his brother Nathaniel (active 1724–59) published two major series of engraved views of England and Wales: 81 prospects of towns (1728–53) and views of over 400 antiquities – ruined castles, abbeys and the like (1726–42). These constitute the most significant print series produced in Britain in the first half of the 18th century. Taken as a whole, the engravings represent the nation’s improving present condition along with the relics of its past.Britain was, in effect, a newly created state, born out of the Union of the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707. The political centre of gravity however, was England – a probable reason for why the Bucks did not venture into Scotland. The new country had been recognised as a world power by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, following the War of the Spanish Succession. Samuel Buck announced in November 1726 ".his intention of systematically recording ruins throughout England. The castles, religious foundations, and other remains of antiquity throughout the kingdom, he argued, were in a lamentable condition. He would 'rescue the mangled remains' of 'these aged & venerable edifices from the inexorable jaws of time' (S. Buck, 'Proposals for the publication of . twenty-four views of castles . in the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham', 1 Nov. 1726, copy in priv. coll.), by visiting and recording them.. . . Finally they produced sets for Wales, apparently touring the counties of Wales in 1739-41.This work preceded Piranesi's view of ancient Rome by 3 years.Lowndes, p. 304.