Over the course of the 18th century, beautiful books that categorized, annotated, and illuminated the Enlightenment pursuit of learning across Europe had become increasingly popular. Knowledge was everything and everywhere, and these books provided it for those not wealthy enough to build their own personal collections of rare and exotic objects. Published in 1776 at the peak of the Enlightenment, A Representation of Marble Types was one such edition: it depicted 570 samples across 100 color plates, accompanied by texts in five languages and took the standards of both aesthetics and categorization to a whole new level. Today, it is regarded, rightly, as one of the finest illustrated scientific books of the era.
Featuring new photography to depict the intricate details of the marble samples, this edition brings an unknown treasure back to relevance. The plates, each meticulously hand-colored and arranged with painstaking precision, have an abstract-art feel that gives this volume an almost modern slant. This edition reproduces the pages from two copies of A Representation of Marble Types held at the State and University Library in Dresden and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Reprinting the work in full for the first time, The Book of Marble brings that rare blend of beauty and encyclopedic knowledge to a wider audience.
Format: Hardcover Size:24.3 x 30.4 cm, 2.57 kg Pages: 312 pp ISBN: 978-3-8365-9434-9
