4 parts in 2 volumes in one, folio (465 x 284 mm). Engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of Palladio, 215 copper-engraved plates by Bernard Picart, Michael Vandergucht, John Harris and others (most full-page, 15 double-page, and a few in text). (Some toning and spotting, a few marginal repairs.) Contemporary calf (rebacked and repaired, some wear).

Second edition in English of Palladio's influential architectural treatise, translated by Giacomo Leoni. The two editions form ''a turning point in the history of British Palladianism,'' marking not only the first complete English translation of I Quattro Libri but the first use of ''worthwhile engraved copies of the original woodcuts'' (RIBA). While portions of the original Italian text had been translated into English during the 17th century, the first edition in English in 1715 sparked a Palladian architectural revival in Great Britain and its American colonies. Fowler 224; Berlin Kat. 2598; ESTC T22366; RIBA 2392.