The Baths of the Romans, Explained and Illustrated, with the Restorations of Palladio

Charles Cameron

S. Leacroft, and J. Mathews, 1775

Folio, 58 cm.  Bound in fine modern leather, with marbled boards and leather spine label.  [3], iv, 65 p., 68 p. 75 engraved plates, numbered 2-75 (with 2 plates numbered 12 & 16). According to bibliographic notes other copies also have no plates numbered I, and that this plates is the verso of the letterpress.  Some of the plates are folding, double page, or with mounted flaps.  Scattered foxing / spotting, mostly to first 20 pages. The dedication page is tanned and has a crude margin repair. Occasional dampstaining. Institutional stamp on dedication page.  (Description des bains des Romains, enrichie des plans de Palladio, first published in 1772).  

Charles Cameron was a noted Scottish, neoclassical architect who served the court of the Empress Catherine II of Russia.  Cameron did extensive study in Roman architecture, surveying the Baths of Titus and Nero's Domus Aurea in 1767- 1769. Catherine had wanted to create a second Rome as the architectural embodiment of the new power and western outlook of Russia. This book brought Cameron to Catherine's notice and allowed for the realization of Cameron's of Roman-inspired / Palladian architecture in the form of the Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk palaces.  

  ESTC n32918; Harris and Savage 96; BAL, Early printed books, no. 530. 

Provenance: From the library of the American architect, George I. Lovatt.  Lovatt designed numerous Roman Catholic churches in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and other locations.  Lovatt notably won the AIA's gold medal for his Church of the Holy Child, Philadelphia.  

This is an oversized or heavy book, which requires additional postage for international delivery outside the US