DUTENS,, Louis (1730--1812)
Itinéraire des routes les plus fréquentées, ou journal d'un voyage aux villes principales de l'Europe, en 1768, 1769, 1770, et 1771. Où l'on a marqué, en heures & minutes, le temps employé à aller d'une poste à l'autre; ... Nouvelle édition augmentée d'un voyage en Espagne. Par M. L. Dutens, ...
A Londres (Place), chez André Dury,, 1777.
xxxi, [1], 159, [1] p., fold. letterpress table ; 21.1 cm. (8º)

Dutens, a diplomatist and man of letters, was a Huguenot refugee. In 1763 he was presented to the living of Elsdon, Northumberland, and was later appointed historiographer to George III and elected FRS (sponsored by M. Maty and C. Solander among others). The title-page is a cancel, with a list of errata on the verso. For further details see SM Sketchbooks catalogue, no. 8. ESTC t137050.

Copy Notes Inscribed in ink on the title-page John Soane/ Florence cost, the remainder of the inscription being cropped in binding. With a scrap of paper inscribed in pencil Paris in Soane's hand, inserted as a bookmark at the start of the 'Table Des Matieres et des Routes'. The book was evidently purchased by Soane at Florence in April 1780 for 12 [paolini?] and used on his return trip to England. See 'Notes Italy and Italian Language' (SM Vol 162), p. 329; P. de la Ruffinière du Prey, John Soane's architectural education (New York and London 1977), p. 295. It contains several marginal notes in ink and pencil, some of them dated. Of particular interest are the notes on pp. 44--5, which record his impressions of Palazzo Durazzo-Pallavicini, Genoa and are accompanied by thumb-nail sketches of the plan and cross section of the new staircase, providing an ante quem date for its completion. (See P. de la Ruffinière du Prey, John Soane: the making of an architect, London 1982, pp. 144--6, 358 n. 46).

Binding C18th half calf, gilt-ruled spine, marbled-paper boards.

Reference Number 2160

Additional Names Palazzo Durazzo Pallavicini (Genoa, Italy)