First edition. 1767 Grotesque Architecture by William Wrighte. London, England. Follies, architectural history, etc.

The first edition of William Wrighte's Grotesque Architecture, an "accessible" book that encouraged and helped popularize garden structure follies in the late 18th century. The work consists of a handsome frontis, depicting a lively garden scene incorporating a "grotesque" folly, followed by 28 plates/examples, with descriptions and dimensions.

This copy has some provenance, being in the library of Sir George Strickland, a 19th century baronet, and then in the library of the architectural historian Mark Girouard.

Sir George Strickland did build, at least, one folly, which still stands and is called Carnaby Temple (I did look, and the design doesn't seem to come from this present volume, although it may have been influenced by it).

This is the first edition; the work was popular and republished.

Eileen Harris, in her work British Architectural Books and Writers, states, "...William Wrighte's collection of grotesque follies - mosques, hermitages and the like, build of rustic materials, moss, branches, roots, thatch, even wool - had far greater impact, being the only pattern book on the subject that was readily available and easily manageable..."

Bibliographic Details -

Worldcat OCLC number 10828135, among others; 15 copies listed, including those held at Stanford, Morton Arboretum, Smithsonian, Library of Congress, William and Mary, Princeton, New York Botanical Garden, Yale, MIT, and Newcastle U..

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 24 x 15 x 1 cm. Leather spine and corners, with marbled paper covering the hardcover boards. Spine with two raised bands. Title in gilt on red morocco on the spine. Marbled endpapers. One frontis, and 28 plates.

Collation - frontis, 14 numbered pages, 28 numbered plates.

The catalogues record that the printer included two pages of advertisements after the 14 numbered pages; these advertisements were not bound into this copy.

Condition -

See pictures. Worn binding with wear to corners and edges, rubbing, etc. Joints are cracked, front joint entirely, board is held on by the spine's cords. Spine with some missing from top and bottom. Several ex-libris plates on the pastedown. Text block has some toning, maybe the lightest foxing, and an occasional light fore-edge thumbing, but it is mostly clean, with crisp papers; I can see why this was in Mark Girouard's reference library. A few light graphite lines towards the bottom of plate 2. Pl 8 with a 1 cm (coffee?) spot. Plate 18 more thumbed, as if it was referenced more often.