The Ancient Buildings of Rome: Accurately Measured and Delineated by Anthony Desgodetz, Architect. Illustrated with One Hundred and Thirty-seven Plates; and Explanations in French and English. The Plates Engraved and the Text Translated by the late Mr. G. Marshall, Architect.

First English edition, second impression with reset title page, 2 vols., bound in one, elephant folio (547 x 360 mm), [3], xvi, [4], 72, [1]pp., 61 engraved plates; [5], 64, [1]pp., 76 engraved plates, with the first issue title-page to volume one, parallel titles and explanatory texts in English and French, the first part's French title page has a closed tear repaired, otherwise the text is nice and clean, plates throughout are generally nice clean crisp impressions, endpapers renewed, rebound in brown polished calf over marbled boards, upper cover slightly bowed with a scuffed portion, the lower-cover another smaller scuff, spine and upper cover discoloured due to water splashes, overall a very good clean copy. First published as Les Edifices Antiques De Rome, Paris, 1682. Desgodetz (1653-1728) was sent by the French Academy to produce a survey of the monuments and buildings of ancient Rome. It was one of the earliest and most accurate architectural studies of the ancient monuments of the city of Rome. The accuracy of Desgodetzís measurements, the brilliance of his drawings, and the beauty of the engraved plates made it a most popular work, as a consequence there was a great demand for an English edition. George Marshall, a little known architect, took on this task. When the first volume appeared in 1771 it was dedicated to King George III, and its thought that the publication was arranged and paid for by the King himself. The second volume wasnít issued until 1795 after Marshallís death. The architectural publishers, I. and J. Taylor, had purchased the remaining sheets of volume I and simultaneously reissued them, with a new title page giving their imprint, along with volume II. RIBA 860; Harris, 196; Fowler, 85.