BUILDER'S MAGAZINE: OR MONTHLY COMPANION [BUILDER'S DICTIONARY, 2 VOLS - 1774

1774. A SOCIETY OF ARCHITECTS. THE BUILDER'S MAGAZINE: OR MONTHLY COMPANION FOR ARCHITECTS, CARPENTERS, MASONS, BRICKLAYERS &C. ... [ALPHABETICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE TERMS OF ART WHICH ARE USED IN BUILDING; FORMING ALSO A COMPLETE BUILDER'S DICTIONARY, 2 VOLS]. London: Printed for the Authors; and sold by F. Newbery, 1774. [4] + 338 pp./179 engraved plates + 96 text pages. 4to., speckled calf, rebacked but missing backstrips. Leather chipped at corners, worn. Owner's inkstamp to front flyleaves. Hinges reinforced with cloth. A few pages have small closed tears or small holes, not affecting text or images. Light soil to title page. Volume Two begins with plates. Text in very good condItion overall, as are the plates. Of the 179 plates, three are hand-colored and nine are folding. Title page continued: "as well as for Every Gentleman who would wish to be a competent Judge of the elegant and necessary Art of Building. Consisting of Designs in Architecture, in every Stile and Taste, from the most magnificent and superb Structures, down to the most simple and unadorned; together with the Plans and Sections, serving as an unerring Assistant in the Construction of any Building, from a Palace to a Cottage. In which will be introduced Grand and Elegant Designs for Chimney-Pieces, Cielings (sic), Doors, Windows &c. proper for Halls, Saloons, Vestibules, State Rooms, Dining Rooms, Parlours, Drawing Rooms, Anti Rooms, Dressing Rooms, Bed Rooms, &c. Together with Designes for Churches, Hospitals, and other Public Buildings. Also, Plans, Elevations, and Sections, in the Greek, Roman and Gothic Taste, calculated to embellish Parks, Gardens, Forests, Woods, Canals, Mounts, Vistos, and Islands, extensive Views, &c. The Whole Forming A Complete System of Architecture, in all its Branches; and so disposed, as to render the Surveyor, Carpenter, Mason, &c. equally capable to erect a Cathedral, a Mansion, a Temple, or a Rural Cot." The first volume is the dictionary, the second volume is the plates with explanatory text.