De La Distribution Des Maisons De Plaisance, Et De La Decoration Des Edifices En General Leather_bound - 1738

Paris: Chez Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1738. First edition. leather_bound. Contemporary French cat's paw calf, edges stained red. Very good. 2 vols. 198 & 180 pages. 28.5 x 21.2 cm. 155 engraved plates, title page printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece and 44 engraved plates in Vol. 1 (42 folding) ; 111 engraved plates in Vol. 2 (12 folding), numerous engraved head and tail pieces and initials in the text. First edition, second issue lacking half titles, errata slips, and with Jombert's address as "Rue Dauphine" of Blondel's first published book. Vol. I includes many architectural designs for houses and Vol. II describes both interior and exterior ornaments, as well as garden plans. FOWLER 49. "Blondel was the most significant French architectural educator of the eighteenth century.....his objective was to establish design principles for domestic architecture that correspond to the classical principles already in practice for civil structures." [see: MILLARD p25]. FOWLER notes, "The fine plates were both drawn and engraved by the author, except for a few at the end of Volume II, on which he received help. The allegorical frontispiece and some of the head and tailpieces were engraved by Cochin. This work deals in great detail with the country house and its garden." BERLIN CATALOGUE 2400. BRUNET I, p.977. CICOGNARA 35. Raised bands, leather spine labels, spine panels richly decorated in gilt, marbled endpapers, interior contents [plates and text] clean, moderate extremity wear.