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xii, 361, [1] pp. With the list of Subscribers. 42 copper-engraved plates, including frontispiece portrait, some are double-page and/or folding; plus a few wood engravings within the text. (Folio) 41x26 cm. (16¼x10¼")period full calf, red leather spine label. First Edition.

One of the great works on classical art and literature of the eighteenth century, although criticized at the time for totally ignoring the Greeks. Joseph Spence (1699-1768), a friend of Alexander Pope and member of his literary circle, was both "amiable and high-principled." The qualities made him much in demand as an escort for the sons of English gentlemen and nobility on the Grand Tour of Europe.