MALTON (James). An Essay on British Cottage Architecture: An Attempt to perpetuate on Principle, that peculiar mode of Building, which was originally the effect of Chance. Supported by fourteen designs, with Their Ichnography, or Plans, laid down to Scale; comprising Dwellings for the Peasant and Farmer, and Retreats for the Gentleman; with various Observations therein.1798

London: Published by Hookham and Carpenter, First edition, folio (335 x 280 mm), [4], 27, [1]pp., wide margin copy, 21 aquatint plates, light water tide mark to top right-hand corner of each plate, some light spotting, contemporary half half, rubbed, rebacked, red morocco spine label. A classic work on British cottage architecture "unlike contemporary architects who advocated order, regularity, and symmetry in domestic design, Malton had in mind a more substantial, comfortable and picturesque cottage"—(Archer). Malton's 21 designs range from a simple peasants' cottage, through to 'a habitation worthy of a gentleman of fortune' (p.3). This latter comprised on the ground floor a dining room, library, breakfast parlour, withdrawing room, waiting room, ladies' working room, water closet, and paper closet. The chamber floor contains four bedrooms, a water closet, and bedrooms for the butler and housekeeper. The façade was two stories high and 90 ft. wide, with a thatch roof, hipped gables at each end, and a pedimented "colonnade" supported by four rustic columns in front of the entrance. James Malton (c.1750-1803) was the younger son of Thomas Malton, architectural draughtsman and writer on perspective. He "accompanied his father to Dublin, where he found employment in the office of the distinguished architect James Gandon, despite a suspicion that the elder Malton had anonymously published severe criticism of Gandon's designs for the Royal Exchange in Dublin. After three years, however, James Malton 'so frequently betrayed all official confidence, and was guilty of so many irregularities that it became quite necessary to dismiss him from employment' (Gandon, 67)... In the 1790s James Malton returned to London, where he supported himself as a topographical artist, exhibiting some fifty-one drawings, designs for, and elevations of buildings at the Royal Academy between 1792 and 1803."—(Oxford DNB). Provenance: With the engraved armorial bookplate (printed on pink paper) of Cornelius Heathcote Rodes (c.1755-1825) of Barlborough Hall, son of John and Milicent Heathcote, assumed name of Rodes on succeeding to the estates of his uncle Gilbert Heathcote Rodes. Archer, 197.1; Abbey, Life, 34; RIBA 2016.