Observations Upon the Antiquities of the Town of Herculaneum Discovered at the Foot of Mount Vesuvius. With Some Reflections on the Painting and Sculpture of the Ancients. And a Short Description of the Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Naples

Hardcover. Contemporary full calf with raised bands; spine label lettered in gilt; label and bands ruled in gilt. vii + 236 + 4 (index) pp. Illustrated with 42 engraved plates. Bookplate on front pastedown; spinal gilt rules slightly faded; hinges repaired with vellum strip on endpaper leaves; endpaper borders browned from binding materials; some minor foxing to prelims and rear matter; interior otherwise bright & clean with only minor marginal browning. ALL PLATES PRESENT, though not necessarily in correct numercial order. One of the first illustrated accounts of the archeological sites of Herculaneum, excavation on which had begun in 1738. The plates are attributed to Bellicard who joined the Marquis de Marigny on a journey to Naples in 1750-51. Another member of the marquis’s retinue was Charles Nicholas Cochin, joint author of this volume, who wrote on the paintings and sculpture. Apparently the English edition statement (1753) is questionable, since the first French edition did not appear till 1754. This is an unusually tight, bright and clean copy, showing few signs of exterior wear apart from the repaired hinges.