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3 vols, large 8vo, pp. xv, [1], 403, [1 (blank)]; xiv, [2], 397, [1 (blank)]; [6], 352, [4], 135, [1]; with 53 plates, including several mezzotints and 6 chromolithographs (some with additional hand-colouring), and with numerous illustrations in text, all after Ruskin; contents lightly toned, occasional light foxing and marginal dust-soiling, but overall in very good condition, edges untrimmed, vol. III partly uncut; bound in the publisher's green cloth, lettered in gilt to spine; extremities and hinges a little worn, some light rubbing to boards; a cutting from a catalogue of Henry Sotheran and Co., booksellers, to front pastedown of vol. I.A deluxe copy, one of 220 copies, of the fourth expanded edition, printed on Van Gelder laid paper with the plates on India paper.The Stones of Venice is a three-volume treatise on art and architecture in medieval Venice by the English art and social critic John Ruskin (1819 1900), first published from 1851 to 1853. In his work, Ruskin aimed to establish an architectural typology that traces the evolution of Venetian Gothic from the Romanesque, and identifies early signs of decadence as the city's architecture shifted towards Renaissance forms. This typology, while fitting the rise-and-fall archetype, remained largely valid for 150 years. However, 'the importance of The Stones of Venice lies not in its hostility to the Renaissance, but in its celebration of the Byzantine and the Gothic, which had an immediate effect on Victorian architects, who began to introduce Romanesque forms and Venetian and Veronese colour and sculptural features into their designs' (ODNB).The fourth edition of The Stones of Venice includes the extra notes and chapter of the abridged traveller's edition of 1879, and a new, exhaustive index of 135 pages. Issued on 8 July 1886, this edition was available in plain brown cloth boards, with 2000 copies printed at a price of 4 guineas per set. Additionally, 220 deluxe copies were produced on hand-made Van Gelder paper with the plates on India paper, bound in green cloth boards, and priced at 8 guineas per set (Cook and Wedderburn, p. lv).See 'Bibliographical note' in Cook and Wedderburn (eds), The works of John Ruskin, library edition volume IX, The stones of Venice volume I (London, George Allen, 1903); cf. The annual American catalogue, 1886, p. 112. Language: English. Seller Inventory # GL100.54
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