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Edition : First Edition. , Expertly rebacked burgundy quarter calf saving contemporary marbled boards and calf spine; with five (5) raised blind bands; gilt lettered title on two and four; compartments with central floral ornament. , The engravings in the present edition are all signed by Cav. Piranesi F. On some plates watermarks visible ? according to Andrew Robison?s classification, numbers 80, 85 and 87 (bird on house)- also provided in Wilton Ely. Wilton-Ely writes concerning the original work: "Piranesi's final work is one of his most commanding statements on architecture and, ironically, was to have a profound effect on the appreciation of the monumental austerity of Greek architecture as Neo-classicism developed. Even more than with the relief columns, there are considerable problems of authorship, here involving the contribution of Francesco Piranesi. Although Giamattista had undoubtedly been familiar with the three 5th-century temples at Paestum much earlier, it was not until late in 1777, or possibly the spring of 1778, that he made an expedition to record them, accompanied by Francesco, his assistant Benedetto Mori and the architect Augusto Rosa. The result was a suite of 20 plates plus a frontispiece and inscriptions in French, which received the imprimatur on 15 September, 1778, some two months before Giambattista's death. ?Although 18 plates are signed by Giambattista, it is likely that his son contributed to these and particularly to the remaining three - the frontispiece and Plates XIX and XX - which are signed by Francesco. The 17 surviving preparatory drawings for the series in London, Paris and Amsterdam are particularly relevant to determining authorship. All these studies, unusually finished for Giambattista and executed from the same points of view as the plates (with the exception of that for Plate II), show his hand throughout, though various attempts have been made to attribute them to his son. ?In all 21 plates, the architecture is clearly by Giambattista's hand, as are the vegetation and fragments. The figures, on the other hand, are somewhat coarse, being awkwardly drawn in a broad outline and rather similar to those in Francesco's later etched works. While this aspect is already present in the figures found in the preparatory studies, the broad treatment of the figures therein is not dissimilar to the style of the contemporary drawings of Pompeii which are clearly by Giambattista. What probably happened, therefore, is that Giambattista, having produced all the drawings, executed 18 of the plates from them and carried out much work on the remaining three before his mortal illness overtook him. Francesco then proceeded to complete these latter and to go over the remaining 18 plates, somewhat unsuccessfully attempting to reproduce the character of his father's figure style. ?In discussing these problems, Scott has drawn attention to an interesting discrepancy between a proof (729, first version), pulled from a discarded version of Plate XII, and the published plate (729, second version). In the earlier version the view is taken from a slightly lower point, the background columns are differently arranged and the figures and vegetation are completely different. It would seem that the earlier plate was damaged in some way and the composition revised by Giambattista in the preparatory drawing before he etched a fresh version. , Size : Folio (583x455+mm)., Illustrated with twenty-one (21) copper-engraved etched, elephant folio size plates which include the engraved title. , References : Giesecke: 1911, p. 120; Hind, 1922: p.19; Robison, Andrew: pp.234-237; Wilton-Ely, 1978: pp. 117-19; Wilton-Ely: #?s 717-737. A fine example of first edition with dark impression, plates are clean and crisp.
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