Palais Massimi a Rome

Folio (17" X 11 3/4"). String-tied slate blue spine and corners with tan printed paper over boards portfolio housing 42 loose heavy card stock 11½" X 16 3/4" sheets (rectos only). Good plus/near fine. Portfolio rubbed and slightly scuffed, with expert archival strengthening to spine -- complete and overall fairly attractive and handleable; top sheet (title page) slightly age toned, remainder only toned about the edges. Attractive and complete set of these detailed architectural renderings from this 16th century Renaissance palace in Rome designed by Baldassarre Peruzzi, first published in Paris by F.T. Suys et L.P. Haudebourt in 1818. Undated, but likely circa 1915. The blank verso of each card bears the inkstamped name of "A.S. Graven, Inc.," the Chicago architectural firm responsible for many of that area's famed movie palaces and other structures. The first edition is quite scarce in complete form and even this reprint a century later very uncommon.