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The Early Imprints Collection is part of the RIBA Library and contains around 4200 works published between 1478 and 1840. The bulk of the material is in the English language, with all the major British architectural treatises from John Shute's 'The first and chief groundes of architecture' (1563) to A.W.N. Pugin's 'Contrasts' (1836) represented. The collection is particularly strong in eighteenth century material, with very full holdings of the manuals and pattern books of Sir William Chambers, William Halfpenny, Batty Langley, William Pain, William Salmon, Abraham Swan and Isaac Ware.
 
Palladian Revivial
The Palladian Revival is represented by examples of all the architectural works published under the aegis of Lord Burlington - such as William Kent's 'The designs of Inigo Jones' (1727) and Isaac Ware's 'The four books of Andrea Palladio's architecture' (1738) - as well as the seminal 'Vitruvius Britannicus' of Colen Campbell (1715-1717), and its various supplements and continuations (1725-1835).

Late Georgian and early Victorian
The late Georgian and early Victorian periods are also very well covered. In addition to the works of the Pugins, 'père et fils', the Library has an unrivalled collection of books of designs by such authors as Robert Adam, John Plaw, George Richardson, P.F. Robinson and Sir John Soane.
 
Gothic architecture
The literature of Gothic architecture is also to be found in abundance, in the writings of M.H. Bloxham, John Britton, Sir James Hall, John Kendall, James Cavanagh Murphy, the Pugins, E.J. Willson and the popular 'Essays on Gothic architecture' (first published in 1800).
 
Early English
Among the earlier English authors Shute has already been mentioned. The seventeenth century is represented by such original works as Sir Henry Wotton's influential 'The elements of architecture' (1624) and Thomas Wilsford's 'Architectonice' (1659), as well as by English versions of the works of the great Italian theorists, Palladio (editions dated 1668-1753), Scamozzi (1676-1734), Serlio (1611), Vignola (1655-1699) and Vitruvius (1692-1826). Leon Battista Alberti's 'De re aedificatoria' was not published in English until the early years of the Palladian Revival, when it was translated by Giacomo Leoni.
 
European
A large minority of the collection (around forty percent) consists of books published on the continent of Europe.
 
Italian
Italy and the Roman Empire were the cradle of `modern' architecture, and the Early Imprints Collection includes examples of all the important early Italian treatises. Perhaps the richest holdings are those of Vitruvius's 'De architectura libri decem', which run from the incunabular first edition (probably printed in 1486) to Marini's scholarly edition of 1836. In all, a total of 55 different editions of Vitruvius's ten books, in six different languages, are held in the Collection.
 
The earliest architectural book to have been printed in the Western world was not, however, Vitruvius's work, but the 'De re aedificatoria' of Alberti, first published in Florence in 1485 (one earlier book is included among the Early Imprints, although it is not strictly architectural and must be found by consulting the published catalogue of the Collection - see below). In addition to Vitruvius and Alberti, the first editions of the works of Alessandro Capra, Pietro Cataneo, Palladio, Scamozzi and parts of the 'Architettura' of Serlio are also held, as are numerous later editions and adaptations of these works.
 
Other Italian authors include such architects, theorists and historians as Ottavio Bertotti-Scamozzi, F.S. Maffei, Francesco Milizia, G.B. Montano, Famiano Nardini, Giovanni Poleni, Alessandro Pompei, Tomasso Temanza and Antonio Vissentini.
 
French
French books are also well represented. The earliest are the theoretical and illustrative works of Philibert de l'Orme and Jacques Androuet du Cerceau, who laid the foundations for the work of the later theorists Roland Fréart, Pierre Le Muet and André Félibien. The `long eighteenth century' was a rich period for French art, architecture and engineering, and the RIBA Library includes a good representative selection of the material published at this time; perhaps the most impressive is the 23 volumes of the 'Cabinet du Roi', recording the glories of the court of Louis XIV and held by the RIBA in the edition of 1727. The theorists of this period include C.A. d'Aviler, J.F. Blondel and M.A. Laugier, whose 'Essai sur l'architecture' (1753) was influential across Europe. Following the Revolution, a whole new species of architectural books began to appear, concerned with the rebuilding of France and the remodelling of such buildings as the `Pantheon' in accordance with the philosophies of the new government. Out of this period came perhaps the most radical, influential and idiosyncratic French architectural book, Claude Nicolas Ledoux's 'L'architecture considérée sous le rapport de l'art' (dated 1804, but consisting of material prepared between around 1775 and 1802; a second volume, also held by the RIBA Library, was issued in 1846).
 
Early nineteenth-century France saw the genesis of what became known as the `Empire' style. This can best be seen in the works of Percier and Fontaine, and of Charles and L.M. Normand, who between them were chiefly responsible for the popularisation of the Empire style across the continent, and began the fashion for the representation of architectural images in the `outline' manner, which had a profound influence, especially in Britain. The Collection includes all the relevant works of these authors.
 
German and Dutch
The Collection also includes a good range of German and Dutch books, although holdings are weaker in this area than in Italian and French material, and efforts are being made to rectify this. However, the Library has good holdings of the publications of Wendel Dietterlin, Georg Moller, J.F. Penther, L.C. Sturm and C.L. Stieglitz, as well as K.F. Schinkel's highly influential 'Sammlung architectonische Entwürfe' (1819-1840). Among the Dutch authors, Hans Blum is the earliest; his epitome of the five orders, derived from Serlio's fourth book of 1537, was first published in Zurich in 1550, and was often reprinted in the Netherlands and in English translation (the RIBA holds examples of both). A similar work, derived instead from Scamozzi's codification of the orders and published a century later, is Symon Bosboom's 'Cort Onderwys Vande Vyf Colommen', probably first published in 1657, and likewise translated into English. Other Dutch architects and writers present in the Collection include Jacob van Campen, Hendrick de Keyser, Jacob Poley and several members of the Danckerts family (leading architectural publishers in the Netherlands, who copied a good many German and Italian books during the seventeenth century). The Collection also includes architectural works published in Belgium, Greece, Hungary, Portugal, Russia, Scandinavia, Spain and the United States.
 
Archaeology
Although the bulk of the Collection relates to strictly architectural subjects - building design and practice, carpentry, the theory and history of the art - a large part is devoted to related matters. Archaeology is particularly well represented, with such works as the huge 'Description de l'Égypte' (`Napoleon's Egypt') of 1809-1818, and a very thorough collection of editions of Stuart and Revett's 'Antiquities of Athens' (published from 1762); Robert Wood's 'Palmyra' (1753) and 'Balbec' (1757) are among the books based on archaeological expeditions by British writers, while A.B. Desgodetz's 'Les Edifices Antiques de Rome' (1682) represents the French model of accuracy and detail which set the standard for Stuart and Wood's later publications.
 
Decoration and ornament
Decoration and ornament, both interior and exterior, are also well covered in the Collection. Here it is the French 'Ornemanistes', such as Jean Le Pautre, Jean Marot and Percier and Fontaine, who are most heavily represented, although the important English, Italian, Dutch and German artists are also held. A sub-section of decoration is furniture design, and here too the Collection is rich in European books; Chippendale, Hepplewhite, Thomas Hope, François Thiollet, Sheraton and a range of less well-known designers are all to be found, along with such anonymous and influential books as 'Ideas for Rustic Furniture', first published around 1793, and Ackermann's piratical 'Selection of Ornaments' of 1817-1819. A related art is vase design, and here too the Collection holds important works, notably those describing the collections of Sir William Hamilton. Encompassing all these subjects - architecture, archaeology, ornament and vase decoration - are the Library's magnificent holdings of the etchings of G.B. Piranesi, built around the collection bequeathed to the Library by Graham B. Tubbs in 1965. His father, Percy Tubbs, was able to collect examples of nearly all of Piranesi's etchings, and as a result the RIBA's holdings are virtually complete (the Collection only lacks a handful of the views, and the etched catalogo of Piranesi's publications).
 
Garden Design
Garden design is another area in which the Collection is particularly rich. Here again French authors make a strong showing, with titles ranging from Michel Le Bouteux's 'Plans et Dessins Nouveaux du Jardinage' of the 1680s, through DZzallier d'Argenville's treatise of 1709 (and its English translation of 1712), to Pierre Boitard's 'Manuel complet de l'architecte des jardins' of 1834. There are also good holdings of German books of garden theory and practice. However, the English books are the most numerous, and naturally include the publications of Sir William Chambers, William Cobbett, J.C. Loudon, Charles Middleton, J.B. Papworth, Humphry Repton and William Wrighte.
 
Topography and guidebooks
One further subject area covered by the Collection is topography and guidebooks. Here the surviving publications often supply the only depictions or descriptions of important buildings which are otherwise lost, or give details not available in other sources. Many of the works in this category are collections of European views, including those drawn by Domenico Amici, G.B. Cipriani, Etienne Duperac, G.B. Falda, Jean Marot, Piranesi, Luigi Rossini, Isra'l Silvestre and Giuseppe and Mariano Vasi. Picturesque British views are represented by such collections as 'Britannia illustrata' (1707-1715), Samuel Buck's `Views' of 1726-1742, Samuel Prout's 'Studies of cottages and rural scenery' (1836), 'Tallis's London street views' (1838-1840), and the collections of `gentlemen's seats' published by William Angus, J.P. Neale and William Watts. The topographical and historical material in the Collection covers the whole of Europe, but is particularly rich in volumes relating to London and to Rome. Among the Roman studies are the fifteenth- century first edition of Frontinus's 'De aquaeductibus', and one of only three known copies of Palladio's 'Descritione de le chiese, stationi, indulgenze e reliquie de corpi sancti, che sonno in la citta de Roma' (1554).
 
Association copies
The Collection also includes some notable association copies, and books with important provenances; for example, the first edition of Palladio's 'I quattro libri dell'architettura' (1570) belonged to Lord Burlington, while the 1619 edition of Serlio's collected works was owned and annotated by Inigo Jones's assistant John Webb. However, the most important association in the Collection is the `Heirloom' copy of Christopher Wren junior's 'Parentalia' (1750), which is bound with numerous manuscript leaves and additional plates, deriving from Sir Christopher and other members of the family.
 
Summary
The fund of architectural and related knowledge contained in the volumes in this Collection is so huge that it will probably never be fully explored or understood. As yet the surface of the Collection has barely been scratched by researchers, although the information held here has already been of great use to architectural and art historians, practising architects, biographers, local historians, bibliographers, artists and students in all related disciplines. The details of specific historical buildings, and of general building practice, have proved of great value to those engaged in restoration and repair work. Historians of printing, and especially of the graphic techniques used to produce architectural illustrations (woodcuts, engravings, etchings and lithographs) have also found the RIBA's pre-1841 books to be a very rich resource.
 

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Related material
The description of the Early Imprints Collection given above can only be a brief overview. For a full bibliographical and historical account of the books see 'Early Printed Boosk 1478-1840: a Catalogue of the British Architectural Library's Early Imprints Collection' (insert link by Paul W. Nash, Nicholas Savage, Gerald Beasley, John Meriton and Alison Shell. This detailed catalogue is being published by K.G. Saur in five volumes. Volumes I-IV (covering A-Z) are now available. Volume V, the final volume, comprising supplementary records, indices, addenda and corrigenda, is in preparation.
 
The RIBA Library catalogue| is searchable, and brief records for most of the Early Imprints are included.
 
A full list and further details are available from the RIBA Library.
 
All the books in the Early Imprints Collection may be consulted during the opening hours of the Library, with very few restrictions, and photographic reproductions of most of the volumes can be supplied.