LANGLEY, Batty (1696--1751)
[Ancient architecture restored. 1742]
Ancient architecture, restored, and improved, by a great variety of grand and usefull designs, entirely new in the Gothick mode for the ornamenting of buildings and gardens exceeding every thing thats extant. Exquisitely engraved on LXIV large quarto copper-plates and printed on superfine royal paper By Batty and Thomas Langley ...
London (Place), 1742.]
2 pts ; 28.8 cm. (4º)
I: engr. t.-pl., XXXII engr. pl.
II: [8] p., engr. t.-pl., XXXIII--LXII, A--B [i.e. 32] engr. pl.

First complete edition with dedication leaves, list of subscribers and 'A Dissertation' by Batty Langley dated August 16th, 1742. Plates I--XXXII were issued as a 'first Part' (q.v.) with an earlier state of the title-plate requesting subscriptions and promising delivery of the 'last Part' in July 1742. In many copies of the complete book, as here, this earlier title-plate has been discarded and that to the second part, a later state of the same plate, is used for the whole work, often with the letterpress preliminaries to the second part bound before the plates. The 64 plates without the letterpress were re-issued with a new title, Gothic architecture, improved by rules and proportions, in 1747 and c. 1793. A volume of drawings copied from the plates by an unidentified artist and formerly belonging to John Carr is in the Soane Museum (see Concise catalogue of drawings, vol. 104). BAL, Early printed books, no. 1726; Harris and Savage 409; ESTC t114212.

Copy Notes Without the title-plate to the first part and with that to the second part bound in its place. A copy of 'Langley's Gothick Architecture' was bought from Thomas Boone for 12s. on 10 October 1823. (Spiers Box).

Binding Contemporary C18th blind-panelled reverse calf, later blind-tooled spine, red spine-label.

Reference Number 2589

Additional Names T. & W.$Boone; Langley, Thomas (1702--1751)