Soane, Sir John (1753--1837). Designs for Public and Private Buildings - Criticism
Memoirs of the professional life of an architect, between the years 1768 and 1835. Written by himself. Privately printed.
London (Place), printed by James Moyes,, 1835.
xii, viii, 12, [1], 12*--13*, 14--82, 11, [1] p., etch. frontis. port., [26] etch. and litho. pl. ; 31.5 cm. (4°)

Only one complete copy exists of the final version of the Memoirs of the professional life, described here as copy 1. Evidently Soane did not distribute copies as he originally intended. According to Soane (p. 71) 'the whole of the letter-press [i.e. pp. [1]--70 with bis pp. 11, 12*] was completed in January 1834, and the delivery of the work was only delayed on account of some of the Plates not being finished ...'. In February and March the Institute of British Architects published its intention to award Soane a gold medal. The 'Testimonial', the subsequent exchange of letters, the last of which is dated 19 April 1836 (p. 78), and the complete index (pp. [79]--82) were printed in 1836 and added to the earlier letterpress. The first xii pages contain a review of the book 'From the "Literary Gazette." January 25, 1834' , p. i-vi (see Mandelbrote packet 2), and the 'Presentation of the Medal Struck in Honour of Sir John Soane', 1835, p. vii-xii. These pages have been tipped-in in front of the sewn body of the book, almost certainly by A.T. Bolton. The final 11 pages contain the 'Act for settling and preserving Sir John Soane's Museum, ...'. They are sewn in.

Copy Notes Copy 1: Heavy-paper flyleaf preceding the frontispiece portrait inscribed in ink in the hand of Soane's assistant George Bailey Enumerate different publications.
Copy 2: This is a proof copy with manuscript corrections probably by the printer, James Moyes. It contains [19] original drawings, mostly in watercolour, for the plates. Pages 1--68 are a different print-setting from pages 69--87 which was printed later and includes the 'Act ...' continuously paginated with the rest as pp. 77-87. The original pp. [69], 70--72 contain the index, here placed at the end of the book. The index is followed by the xii pages 'From the "Literary Gazette" and the 'Presentation of the Medal, ...'. The final 3 pages contain the 'Rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament' (q.v.). Pasted down on the verso of the portrait frontispiece is a manuscript note by Soane: Memoir/ of the professional Life of an architect/ last revised/ 16 & 17 April 1835/ 30th April 1835.
Copy 3: Bound (2) in the composite volume bound by A.T. Bolton in 1919 for the use of the curators of the museum. It is described by Bolton as an 'Incomplete copy made up from Printers Waste with at end Specimen Pages corrected from the final Edition of 1835. Copy valuable as showing the first form of the Memoirs & how much was inserted in the final 1835 Edition. Specimen Pages of Introduction
& Act of Parliament 1833.' It includes the title-page of 1834. Bound (4) in the same volume is an incomplete 'proof copy' (?) of pp. [45]--96.
Copies 4--99: Incomplete, unbound pages and plates.

Binding Copy 1: C19th brown paper boards, repaired by A. T. Bolton with brown paper tape.
Copy 2: C20th brown paper wrappers provided by A. T. Bolton and edged with brown paper tape. Manuscript spine label Prof^l. Life. Notes. Et^c'.
Copy 3: C20th half red calf, marbled-paper boards, the spine gilt-ruled and gilt-lettered 'Sir John Soane Memoirs &c.'

Reference Number 6612

Additional Names Soane, Sir John (1753--1837). Designs for Public and Private Buildings - Criticism