NASH (Paul W.) SAVAGE (Nicholas) BEASLEY (Gerald) MERITON (John) & SHELL (Alison) Compilers.. Early Printed Books 1478-1840: Catalogue of the British Architectural Library's Early Imprints Collection. Volume 4: S-Z.2001

London: Bower-Saur, Large 4to, volume four only, xxviii, 1717-2479pp., frontis., 36 illustrs., orig. publishers green cloth, lettered in gilt. Early Printed Books includes detailed bibliographical descriptions of some 4200 books published between 1478 and 1840. As well as conventional bibliographical details (transcriptions of titlepages, collations, tables of contents, etc.) the illustrative elements of each work are described in unprecedented detail, in a manner specially developed for this publication. At the end of each entry, before a description of the RIBA's copy, there are notes which attempt to set the work in its context, to illuminate its history, critical reception and impact, and to discuss variations and peculiarities in its physical make-up. In many cases these notes are extensive and form, in effect, sustained historical essays on the works and authors under discussion. With the most important authors, attempts have been made to supply complete bibliographies, in addition to the detailed studies of the editions owned by the RIBA Library. Early Printed Books forms the most comprehensive bibliography of architecture and the related arts and sciences ever published. Each volume is illustrated with plates, reproducing woodcuts, engravings, lithographs and text-pages from the works described. Volume 4: S-Z (Sadeler-Zuccaro). This volume is the most substantial of the series (although it describes only 859 books), since it includes some of the most influential and widely-read architectural writers of the last two thousand years. Four great Italians - Vincenzo Scamozzi, Sebastiano Serlio, G.B. da Vignola and Vitruvius - are afforded nearly two hundred pages of bibliographical and historical detail. Other notable authors include K.F. Schinkel, Thomas Sheraton, John Shute (author of The First and Chief Groundes of Architecture of 1563, the first English book on the subject), Sir John Soane, the Society of Dilettanti, Stuart and Revett, Giuseppe Vasi, John Wood and Sir Christopher Wren. There are also detailed descriptions of Vitruvius Britannicus (edited by Colen Campbell) and its successor volumes by Woolf and Gandon, and of a unique collection of publisher's catalogues issued by Taylor's Architectural Library between 1787 and 1828.