The first book to provide English readers with an accurate idea of the arts and architecture of Moorish Spain.

Architect, architectural draughtsman and author. James Cavanah Murphy is said to have been born of obscure parentage in Blackrock, Co. Cork, and to have trained as a bricklayer. A talent for drawing brought him to the attention of Sir James Chatterton, who provided the means for him to go to Dublin. In Dublin he became a pupil at the Dublin Society's drawing schools in about 1775.

James Cavanah Murphy spent the last 12 years of his life preparing notes and drawings for a publication on this Moorish architecture. The resulting book, The Arabian Antiquities of Spain, was only partially published at his death in 1814. Thomas Hartwell Horne added text descriptions to Murphy's measured drawings, and the whole was reprinted in 1815. Murphy's careful documentation of the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the Alhambra in Granada are appreciative acknowledgements of the Moors' artistic achievements.

First edition. Large folio (66 x 49 cm), engraved title, 103 fine engraved plates and plans by E. Turrell, J. Roffe and others after Murphy, light foxing to title and first few leaves, contemporary half calf gilt, spine darkened and joints neatly repaired, a very attractive copy.

BAL RIBA 2220; Cicognara 2536; Palau 186309.10