Antiquity Explained and Represented in Sculptures

[3] pp 4-193 [1] A single volume of Montfaucon's landmark work on archaeology with all 46 dramatic copper plate illustrations as called for. Montfaucon's cornucopia includes items held in collections all over Europe as well as the surviving archaeological evidence in situ. The highlight of this volume is the remarkable series of double-page engravings of Trajan's column. As Montfaucon puts it in Humphrey's translation, 'There's nothing more agreeable than to take a View of the Roman army upon a March' and then proceeds to do so. This example of Volume IV is found in its original full panelled calf binding, in all likelihood from the workshop of its publisher, Jacob Tonson. Both text and illustrations are complete. There is some staining to the pages at either end of the text. The plates are almost without exception excellent impressions and in very good condition. The front free endpaper has been removed leaving a ragged stub. The binding is very worn with an amateur repair to the top right of the front panel. Happily the boards remain well attached to the body of the book. Overall the contents of the book are about Very Good in condition with the binding functional but poor. (ID:10I)