Beschreibung:

DALTON, RICHARD. Antiquities and Views in Greece and Egypt, with the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants, from Drawings made on the spot. London 1751-52]. Large folio, contemporary half russia gilt and marbled boards, upper cover detached, corners bumped, head and foot of spine chipped, plate 27 torn just into image, some spotting and offsetting. Second Edition, no title, 43 un-numbered engraved plates, 6 of them double-page, 3 of these folding, by Basire, Chatelain, Mason, Müller, Radigues, Rooker and Vivares after Dalton, captions in English and French. Blackmer 443 (the collected edition of 1791). Rare. Richard Dalton (1715-91) visited Greece and Egypt in 1749-50 in the company of James Caulfield, Earl of Charlemont, one of Piranesi's patrons. The drawings of Athens, often referred to as the first accurate and "modern" drawings of the ruins were published by Dalton as a series of 23 plates in 1751 without a title-page. In 1752 a further 20 plates were published, showing illustrations of Egypt, Constantinople and the Archipelago. These 43 plates we refer to as the second edition. Dalton discontinued his work when he learned of Stuart & Revett's proposals to publish The Antiquities of Athens but after 1771 he added nine further plates to his existing work. In 1781 appeared the letterpress and, finally in 1791, perhaps for his widow's benefit, since Dalton died in February of that year, the collected edition was issued. Provenance : The Rt. Hon. Sir James Harris 1st Earl of Malmesbury, large gilt-tooled red morocco supra libros.