Beschreibung:

WILKINS, William (1778-1839). The Antiquities of Magna Graeca. Cambridge: printed by Richard Watts at the University Press, published by Longman, Hurst, Orme, and Rees in London, 1807. Large 2° (583 x 385mm). 2pp. subscribers' list. Engraved title vignette, 13 head- and tailpieces, including four sepia aquatints, 73 plates (comprising 53 line engravings of measured drawings, one double-page, and 20 sepia aquatint views). (Some general light browning and marginal soiling, 6 plates with obtrusive spotting.) Original boards (worn). Provenance : Thomas Hamilton (?1784-1858, architect, signature). FIRST EDITION of a work whose publication coincided with the adoption on Wilkins's designs for Downing College, Cambridge, the first example of the true Greek revival in England. He had spent four years investigating the architecture of Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily and Italy. The fine plates include the temples at Paestum, Aegesta, Agrigentum and Syracuse. Abbey Travel 128; Blackmer 1797.