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lvi., 464pp., title page printed in red and black, 80 fine coloured plates, numerous b/w plates and illustrations to text, appendix and index, some light occasional spotting to blanks endpapers otherwise very clean, marbled endpapers bound in very good quality contemporary red half morocco, gilt titled spine in compartments with raised bands. A near fine clean tightly bound copy in a handsome binding. Ex Libris, Sir Charles Cayzer, 1st Baronet who was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician, with his finely engraved bookplate to upper pastedown. The Alhambra, palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, Spain. The name Alhambra, signifying in Arabic "the red," is probably derived from the reddish colour of the tapia (rammed earth) of which the outer walls were built. Constructed on a plateau that overlooks the city of Granada, the Alhambra was built chiefly between 1238 and 1358, in the reigns of Ibn al-A?mar, founder of the Na?rid dynasty, and his successors. The splendid decorations of the interior are ascribed to Yusuf I (died 1354). After the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, much of the interior was effaced and the furniture was ruined or removed. Charles V, who ruled in Spain as Charles I (1516 56), rebuilt portions in the Renaissance style and destroyed part of the Alhambra in order to build an Italianate palace designed by Pedro Machuca in 1526. In 1812 some of the towers were blown up by a French force under Horace-François-Bastien Sébastiani during the Peninsular War (War of Independence), and the rest of the buildings narrowly escaped the same fate. In 1821 an earthquake caused further damage to the complex. An extensive repair and rebuilding program was undertaken in 1828 by the architect José Contreras and endowed by Ferdinand VII in 1830. After the death of Contreras in 1847, his son Rafael continued his work for nearly four decades. Upon Rafael s death in 1890, he was succeeded by his son, Mariano Contreras Granja (died 1912). Seller Inventory # 3896
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