Sir William Chambers ‎(‎1722‎-96‎)‎‎,‎ architect and furniture designer‎,‎ wished to further his career in the 1750s by publishing on architecture‎.‎ He also became the Prince of Wales‎'‎ architectural tutor‎,‎ architect to the office of works‎,‎ then head of the royal works ‎(‎comptroller and surveyor‎-general from 1782‎)‎‎.‎ Notably‎,‎ he remodelled Buckingham House ‎(‎1762‎-73‎)‎ and designed Somerset House ‎(‎1775‎-96‎)‎‎,‎ but Chambers‎'‎ reputation rests also on his Treatise on Civil Architecture ‎(‎1759‎)‎‎,‎ which he revised and expanded in 1791 as A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture‎.‎ It is regarded as one of the standard English texts on classical architecture‎,‎ and remains essential reading‎.‎ This reissue is of the two‎-volume edition of 1825‎,‎ annotated by the architect and writer Joseph Gwilt ‎(‎1784‎-1863‎)‎‎.‎ Volume 1 contains Gwilt‎'‎s prefatory material‎,‎ including an analysis of Grecian architecture‎'‎s development‎,‎ followed by Chambers‎'‎ systematic treatment of the orders of architecture‎.‎