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GIBBS, James (1682-1754). A Book of Architecture, containing Designs of Buildings and Ornaments. London: [William Bowyer], 1728.
GIBBS, James (1682-1754). A Book of Architecture, containing Designs of Buildings and Ornaments. London: [William Bowyer], 1728. 2 o (514 x 360 mm). 150 engraved plates (5 double-page) by H. Hulsberg, J. Harris E. Kirkall, B. Baron, J. Mynde and G. Vertue after Gibbs. (Some light mostly marginal staining, light marginal dampstaining at end.) Modern quarter calf. FIRST EDITION. "Gibbs's great collection of designs ... its influence on design, and on architectural publishing in the eighteenth century was immense" (RIBA). Trained in Italy, Gibbs published A Book of Architecture in part to affirm his own reputation in England, following the omission of his designs from Vitruvius Britannicus (due to Campbell's antipathy), and it was the "first book by a British architect consisting of his own designs, executed and projected" (Harris, p.208). Among his most noteworthy projects published here are the designs for St. Mary-le-Strand, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the proposed quadrangle for King's College, Cambridge. "These designs ... had a great influence in the United States as well as in England for about one hundred years" (Fowler) -- for example, Thomas Jefferson owned a copy of the Book of Architecture. RIBA notes that Bowyer's ledgers record that 550 copies of the work were printed. Berlin Kat. 2270; Fowler 138; Harris 257; Millard British 22; RIBA 1206.