![Item #310914 The Theory of Perspective Demonstrated [plate volume only]. John Lodge Cowley.](https://jamescumminsbookseller.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/310914.jpg?width=768&height=1000&fit=bounds&auto=webp&v=1628197954)
With Folding Plates in Two States
The Theory of Perspective Demonstrated [plate volume only].
[London: J. Bennett, 1765].
Price: $6,000.00
About the item
10 cut-out plates printed on vellum (plates I-IX & XI) and 11 cut-out plates printed on card (plates I-XI), all unfolded, plate IX of both states retaining original colored thread, interleaved with heavy paper. 4to. With Folding Plates in Two States. Modern half blue morocco and marbled boards. Some light soiling and spotting to plates. Provenance: Alb[ert] J. Douglas (contemporary autograph to front blank).
Item #310914
The plates, printed in two states on vellum and card, to illustrate John Lodge Cowley's The Theory of Perspective Demonstrated, which was printed in London in editions in 1765 and 1766. Both editions are rare. Cowley also used folding plates, which demonstrate three-dimensional geometrical designs, in his Geometry Made Easy (1752) and An Appendix to Euclid's Elements (1758). "As early as the 15th century Albrecht Durer showed that it was possible to construct regular and semi-regular solids out of paper by drawing the figures along the connected edges. This method is precisely what Cowley demonstrates …" (Marilyn Williamson, "John Lodge Cowley and Solid Geometry," Georgia Institute of Technology).
