(ARCHITECTURE.) Blondel, Jacques-François. De la Distribution des Maisons de Plaisance et de la Décoration des Édifices en Général. 2 volumes. Engraved frontispiece and half-title in Volume I, 155 engraved plates, mostly by Blondel. 4to, gilt-lettered contemporary calf, professionally rebacked retaining original backstrips; ink stain to leaf Aiii in Volume 2; bookplates, contemporary architect's ownership signature dated 1776 on front free endpaper. Paris: Charles-Antoine Jombert, 1737-38
first edition of a classic work on country houses and gardensby the most significant French architectural educator of the eighteenth century. Blondel's objective was "to establish design principles for domestic architecture that corresponded to the classical principles already in practice for civil structures"--Millard 25; Berlin 2400; Fowler 49.
