Demortain, Les plans, profils, et elevations, des ville, et Chateau de Versailles, Paris, [1720], boards

VERSAILLES

Les plans, profils, et elevations, des ville, et Château de Versailles, avec les bosquets, et fontaines... dessinez et gravez en 1714 et 1715. Paris: Demortain, [1720]

folio (510 x 360mm.), engraved title-page, 38 (of 54?) engraved plates (19 double-page), contemporary sheep-backed blue boards, lacking the privilège du roi, a few small marginal tears, binding rubbed; sold as a collects ion of plates, not subject to return

A collects ion of plates depicting views of Versailles together with fountains and gardens and maps and plans. Demortain originally published a series of 56 plates in around 1717; this later version has fewer plates which have been rearranged and renumbered (BAL RIBA 2575 states that there should probably be 54 plates for this reprint, though copies vary). Also included are a few of the plates from Pierre le Pautre's separate work on the chapel royal at Versailles, and the final plate contains the massive Machine de Marly, the hydraulic engine which supplied the water to Versailles.

LITERATURE:

BAL RIBA 2575