The title is quite explicit, reviling already a lot about the books content. The book was probably aimed at architects, specifically ones that were concerned with the exterior of luxury homes, meant to host guests and entertain.
The book has two tables of content, the first one reveals where all the „planches“ of this volume should be placed. This table is meant for the bookbinder and not for the reader. The actual table of content can be found a few pages further into the book, spreading over 5 pages. The book has five major sections that then are again divided into many chapters. The introduction and some reflexions about architecture come first, then each section starts with a foreword.
The book contains floor plans of houses and gardens, front views, drawings of facades, and vertical cuts of the buildings.
The book is rather large although the text dosen’t occupy much the provided space on the page. It seems to be a very important and highly complex topic, which also leaves room for interpretation. The print quality is high and everything can be read easily.
The book’s author was Jacques François Blondel. He was a French architect and teacher of the 18th century. „De la distribution des maisons de plaisance, et de la décoration des édifices en general“ was his first independent publication. Blondel wanted to formulate design principles for the architecture of private houses, which were already used in the architecture of civil structures. This book was published in 1737-1738. Blondel died surrounded by his work and students at the Louvre in Paris in 1774.