XIMENEZ (Andres).

Descripcion del Real Monasterio de San Lorenzo del Escorial : su magnifico templo, panteon, y palacio. Madrid, Antonio Marin, 1764. Small folio, flamed calf, gilt border, smooth spine decorated, red title page, yellow edges (Binding of the time). First edition, decorated with a medallion portrait of King Charles III of Spain, to whom the work is dedicated, and 18 copper-engraved plates, most of them folding, representing a general view, plans and sections of the building. Founded in 1563 by Philip II in the Sierra de Guadarrama north of Madrid, the monastery-palace of El Escorial was the center of political power of the Spanish empire and the perfect illustration of its power in the Golden Age. From the library of John Milford, with his handwritten bookplate dated 1787 on one endpaper and his engraved armorial bookplate. Small tear without missing at the plate between pp. 226-227, and restoration at the bottom of the folding plate pp. 296-297. Spine redone.