My book is called “the Ruins of the palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia” it was published in 1764 and written by Robert Adam in English.

The title reveals the topic of this book. The books content gives an insight into the ruins of the Diocletian’s palace in Spalatro, Dalmatia. These ruins are in of what we know today as Split, Croatia.

After reading the introduction, it becomes clear that the purpose of the author was to show to the public the work he had been working on.

As the content of this book basically consist of images, the author decided to include a list of plates (illustrations) instead of a list of contents. The list of plates includes a detailed description of what type of illustration it is, for example if it is a ground view, sectional view or a drawing of a building or other things like windows or cornices. This book has a total of 61 illustrations. They are all located on the right side of the book, and some of them include a caption or little description.

The books’ size is relatively big and its thickness as well considering that it only has 161 pages. As the book contains a lot of illustrations, it makes sense that the author decided to create a big book, so the images could be seen better.

The author Robert Adams was a successful neoclassical British architect. He also held the role of Architect of the Kings works, which was a very prestigious role at that time. He was a very influential architect of the development of western architecture in Europe and north America. With this book he wanted to publish his researched work to the public so others could profit from his acquired knowledge about these ruins.