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WOOD, Robert (1717--1771)
[The ruins of Palmyra. French]
Les ruines de Palmyre, autrement dite Tedmor, au desert.
A Londres (Place), chez A. Millar,, 1753.
[6], 50 p., LVII (i.e. 59) pl. : [3] full p. engr. inscriptions ; 52.4 cm. (2°)

The first edition of Robert Wood's acclaimed survey of the ruins of Palmyra, published in the year of Soane's birth, was issued in English (q.v.) and French. The decision to make the text available in French as well as English was taken at a very late stage, and perhaps as a result the translation, sometimes attributed to J.J. Barthélémy and not supervised by the author, was admitted by Wood himself to be "hasty and negligent". See Harris and Savage, p. 493. As in the English issue, pl. I (a panoramic view) is printed from three coppers usually found bound as three plates, as here. ESTC t136866; Harris and Savage 940.

Copy Notes Inscribed in ink on front free-endpaper John Soane. The title-page inscribed Haanwinckel; another inscription on the bottom of the title-page has been excised. Front pastedown inscribed in ink 2/2/0, possibly the price paid by Soane.

Binding C18th half marbled calf, marbled-paper boards, gilt roll-tooled spine, red morocco spine-label.

Reference Number 3630

Additional Names Haanwinckel; BARTHÉLEMY, Jean-Jacques (1716--1795)


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