Gothic architecture improved by Rules and Proportions in many Grand designs [...].

4to: [2]-8 pp. 64 plts. (minor foxing, ersaed ms. not on title).

Contemp. calf (spine rebacked, repairs at corners and lower edges, sm. def. at head). Good copy.

Rare copy of one of the earliest treatises of the neo-gothic revival in Britain. This work was first published as "Ancient Architecture, Restored, and Improved" (1742), and later, in 1747, republished under its present title. Rather than looking for the original Gothic design techniques, Batty Langhley attempted to "improve" Gothic forms by giving them classical proportions and categorising them in five orders (akin to those of Serlio). The book provided inspiration for elements of buildings from Great Fulford and Hartland Abbey in Devon, to Speedwell Castle in Brewood in Staffordshire, and Tissington Hall in Derbyshire, and the Gothic temple at Bramham Park in Yorkshire, and gates at Castletown House in County Kildare. It is illustrated with 64 engr. pl. of plans, elevations, colonades and profiles by his brother Thomas Langley. The pl. and text are of the orig. 1742 edition, with later engr. title.
Ref. Berlin Kat 2276. - Archer 172.3.