Under Colonial Roofs ... illustrated by forty full-page Photogravure Plates from Negatives by Charles B. Webster.

1894. Boston, C.B. Webster, Publisher, [1894]. Oblong large 4to. Original green cloth with bevelled edges, illustrated and lettered in gilt, all eges gilt; pp. [vi], 237, 41 fine photogravure plates with tissue guards; cloth a little marked, otherwise very good. Very uncommon and beautiful first edition. 'Even at this early date Jones expressed concern at the rapid disappearance of our early houses. The primary value of his book lies in the absolutely superb photographs' (Charles Wood). T he first good photographic study of New England’s historic houses was Alvin Lincoln Jones’ Under Colonial Roofs which appeared in 1894. The pictures, which are of a high quality, show us many buildings that have since disappeared. The picture of the Paul Revere House, when compared to a modern view, gives us some idea of how drastic the 1907 restoration must have been. Jones’ picture leads me to conclude that it is very easy to over-restore a building. I wonder what he/she thought of the coincidental restoration of the House of the Seven Gables! The 1894 version of the Paul Revere house is in fact very revealing, as is that of the Wells-Adams House, also in the North End, which would come down in the very same year that Under Colonial Roofs was published' (Donna Seger on streetsofsalem.com).