Stuart and Revett | The Antiquities of Athens, 1762-1816, 4 volumes

GREECE AND THE LEVANT, A PRIVATE LIBRARY, LOTS 157-213

STUART, JAMES AND NICHOLAS REVETT

The Antiquities of Athens. Measured and Delineated. London: John Haberkorn [volumes 2 and 3: John Nichols, volume 4: T. Bensley for J. Taylor], 1762-1816

FIRST EDITION, 4 volumes, folio (530 x 360mm.), etched title vignettes, 2 engraved portraits, 317 engraved plates, plans and maps (some folding or double-page, one hand-coloured folding map of Greece), head- and tailpieces and engraved illustrations, errata at end of volume 3, nineteenth-century tan morocco, extensively gilt, gilt arms to covers (see provenance), lacking list of subscribers in volume 1, title in volume 1 and folding map repaired, minor spotting, slightly rubbed with very minor loss to spine label at foot of volume 1

ATTRACTIVE ARMORIAL BINDING. The first accurate survey of the classical buildings of Athens, through the influence of which the Greek style was established in English architecture. John Summerson has described it as “one of the three most important architectural travel books of the century”. Stuart and Revett’s visit to Athens was made in 1751 at the instigation of the Society of Dilettanti. Stuart was responsible for the measured drawings, Revett for the topographical views.

LITERATURE:

Blackmer 1617; Cicognara 2713

PROVENANCE:

John Frederick Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor (1790–1860), gilt arms to covers