The Designs of Inigo Jones, consisting of plans and elevations for public and private buildings. With some additional designs.

[INIGO JONES] - KENT, William.

Published by London Benjamin White, 1770

About this Item

Second edition, large paper copy; 2 volumes in 1, folio (56 x 39 cm); frontispiece to vol. I, title pages with engraved portrait vignettes of Inigo Jones in English and French to each vol., list of plates in English and French for each vol., vol. I with 52 engraved plates numbered 1* and 1-73, of which five are large fold-outs and take four numbers each, and 7 double-page taking 2 numbers each; vol.II with 47 engraved plates numbered 1 - 65, of which 18 are double-page and take 2 numbers each; contemporary marbled boards rebacked and recornered in later calf, retaining original gilt calf lettering piece, boards a little worn, internally clean and bright, a very good copy. One of the most important architectural books of the eighteenth century. The second edition includes additional material: the French title pages and plate descriptions, the first plate 1* showing Whitehall Palace, and plate 64 showing the Palladian design for Wentworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire. Essentially based on the Jones-Webb collection of architectural drawings purchased by Lord Burlington in the early 1720s, this book provides extensive coverage of Jones's designs for the Banqueting House in Whitehall and various smaller projects; gives much space to the designs by Jones and Webb for Whitehall Palace as a whole, without acknowledging that they are in fact mainly by Webb; and adds to the drawings from this source four plates based on Palladio's drawings for S. Giorgio in Venice (which Burlington had also acquired) and a large number of plates illustrating buildings designed by Lord Burlington himself, notably Chiswick House and the Westminster School dormitory. The whole forms a splendid record of Jones's work and of Burlington's reinterpretation of Palladio and Jones for his own time. The allegorical frontispiece by William Kent, frequently lacking, is present here. Archer 166.2; Millard 34; Fowler 162.

Seller Inventory # 119877

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Designs of Inigo Jones, consisting of plans and elevations for public and private buildings. With some additional designs.
• Publisher: London Benjamin White
• Publication Date: 1770
• Binding: Hardcover