Hopper (Thomas) Designs for the Houses of Parliament, list of subscribers, 4 lithographed plans (trimmed & mounted) and 28 plates, 2 engraved, the rest lithographed, 3 on india paper and mounted, title lightly soiled and reinforced at edges, plates foxed (heavily to some, otherwise mostly marginal), insect damage to fore-edge and water-staining to inner margin but only affecting one image, a few plates with tears to margins repaired, contemporary half morocco, gilt-stamped cloth label to upper cover, rubbed and faded, rebacked preserving old spine, preserved in modern cloth portfolio with ties, [BAL 1549], elephant oblong folio, for the Author, [?1842].

*** Scarce work displaying the designs submitted by the London architect Thomas Hopper (1776-1856) for the competition in 1835 for the new Houses of Parliament. The competition rules specified that the Parliament buildings should be in the Gothic or Elizabethan styles, and Hopper’s entry borrows features from all periods of Gothic from Early English to Late Perpendicular. The effect is to make his Houses of Parliament look like half a dozen late mediaeval cathedrals rolled into one, and the visual effect is dramatic, aided by the large size of the book. This copy includes a final plate of Smirke's winning design for the Post Office (not always found), juxtaposing it with Hopper's design for the same.