YAMATO, Mokue
Kaigun heigaku no chichi akiyama masayuki teitoku.
1943
- $1,250
YAMATO, Mokue. Kaigun heigaku no chichi akiyama masayuki teitoku. 242 pp. text, with 72 pp. of black and white photographs. Small folio, 270 x 205 mm., publisher's cloth and pictorial dust jacket. Tokyo: Bancho Shobo, 1943. An immaculate copy of this classic example of the propaganda books produced by the government to encourage the population. In this case the book extols the Navy and is illustrated with some truly stunning photographs. OCLC lists only the copy in the National Diet Library
More from Ursus Rare Books
Central China Pictorial
TAKIFUJI, Naosaburo TAKIFUJI, Naosaburo. Central China Pictorial. 8vo, publisher's cloth and cardboard slipcase. Tokyo: Kachu Yoko, 1940. A splendid and extremely rare photographic survey of China under Japanese occupation, with a highly imaginative layout incorporating a frequent use of photomontage. Not listed in OCLC.- $1,500
- $1,500
Nihon shashin nenkan. The Japan Photographic Annual.
JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHY. Nihon Shashin nenkan. The Japan Photographic Annual. 172 pp., profusely illustrated. 4to, 255 x 180 mm., publisher's illustrated wrappers, in a new cloth folding box. Tokyo: Asahi Shimbun, 1941. A handsome survey of contemporary Japanese phootography containing photographs by Shinzo Fukuhara, Hiroshi Hamaya, Shigene Kanamaru, Kiyoshi Koishi, Iwata Nakayama and Koyo Okada. Authors: Shin Fujisawa, Makoto Uchida, Kenzo Fukushima and Rikichi Maejima. The book can be seen as a last idyllic look at prewar Japan. Ryuichi and Heiting. The Japanese Photobook, no. 65.- $1,250
- $1,250
Jugo no senka.
KIYOSHI, Goko et al KIYOSHI, Goto et al. Jugo no senka. [The Battle Behind the Lines]. 106, [8] pp, illustrated throughout. 8vo, 296 x 207 mm., publisher's cloth and illustrated dust jacket. Tokyo: Meguro Shoten: Ikuei Shuppan, Showa 19 [1944]. A handsome propaganda book purporting to show how the population as a whole were contributing to the war effort, but given the date of publication, the photographs and the reality must have been at a considerable variance. Some insignificant marginal water staining to the rear couple of leaves. OCLC lists only the copies at Princeton, Waseda and the National Diet Library. Heiting and Ryuichi. The Japanese Photobook, No. 117.- $1,250
- $1,250
Daitoa senso, Kaigun sakusen shasin kiroku. Volumes 1- 2( A selection of Photographs of the Japanese Navy Operation in World War 11)
DAIHONEI KAIGUN HODOBU DAIHONEI KAIGUN HODOBU. Daitoa senso, Kaigun sakusen shasin kiroku. [A selection of Photographs of the Japanese Navy Operation in World War II]. Volumes I- II. 144, [8] pp.; 144, [8] pp., illustrated throughout. Folio, 295 x 208 mm., bound in publisher's cloth and dust wrapper. In the original cardboard boxes (box of vol. II slightly damaged). Tokyo: Asahi shinbunsha shuppan insatsubu, 1942-1943. A complete set of this typical example of Japanese wartime propaganda. Designed by Onchi with a definite reference to the work of Lissitzky, Rodchenko and the other Russian prewar photographers. The two books cover the period from 20th April 1942 to 15th April 1943 and shows photographs of the Japanese navy in action in Corregidor, Java, Borneo, Philippines, New Guinea, the Coral Sea and the bombing of Australia. Heiting and Ryuichi. The Japanese Photobook, no. 112- 113.- $1,250
- $1,250
Front 1942. Numbers 1-2.
JAPAN JAPAN. Front 1942. (In Japanese). Numbers 1-2. Folio, bound in original photographic wrappers, preserved in a new cloth box. Tokyo: Tohosha, 1942. $1,500.00 This is the Japanese language edition of the great propaganda magazine Front, which appeared in some 15 different languages, and is clearly modeled on USSR in Construction. This version combines the first and second number, dedicated to the Imperial Navy and its "defense of Asia". Among the stunning photograph are ones showing the attacks on European holdings in Southeast Asia and the attack on Pearl Harbor. Under the direction of Kimura Ihei, Front used the talents of some of the most important of Japan's photographers. The layout was designed under the direction of Hara Hiromu. Some wear to wrappers. All issues are extremely rare. Ryuichi and Heiting. The Japanese Photobook, no.89.- $1,500
- $1,500
Les hieroglyphiques de Ian-Pierre Valerian, vulgairement nomme Pierius Autrement, commentaires des lettres et figures sacre es des Aegyptiens & autres nations. Oeuure reduicte en cinquante huict liures, ausquels sont adjoincts deux autres
VALERIAN,Ian-Pierre; Valerianus, Giovanni Pietro. VALERIAN, Ian-Pierre. Les hieroglyphiques de Ian-Pierre Valerian, vulgairement nomme Pierius. Autrement, commentaires des lettres et figures sacrées des Aegyptiens & autres nations [38], 807, [75] pp., engraved title page by Léonard Gaultier, numerous small in-text woodcuts, head- and tail-pieces, initials throughout. Folio, 350 x 225 mm., bound in contemporary calf. Lyon: P. Frellon, 1615. French translation by Jean de Montlyard of this important work of symbolism and artistic iconography of the Renaissance, integrating the study of hieroglyphs with "the symbolism of mediæval lapidaries and bestiaries, and of the Physiologus ascribed to Epiphanius, a collection of symbols suggested by animals" (Praz). The volume is divided into two books. The first by Ian-Pierre Valerian (Pierio Valeriano) describes hieroglyphic meanings of all animals, and the second book - Les hieroglyphiques by Caelius Augustin Curion (Celio Augustino Curione) - concerns the symbolic meanings of effigies and portraits of gods and men. First published in Latin with incomplete text in Florence, 1556, and with complete text in Basel later that year (see R. Mortimer, Italian 16th cent., 511). This Lyon edition by Paul Frellon is "highly sought after, with a frontispiece engraved by Leonard Gaultier, a portrait and numerous hieroglyphic and emblematic figures engraved on wood" (Caillet). Brunet V, 1042 ("La plus complete de toutes"). Praz, pp. 24, 225, & 521. Volkman, Bilderschriften der Renaissance (Leipzig, 1923), pp. 35-40. Olivier et al., fers 7 & 16. See Edgar Wind's Pagan Mysteries in the Renaissance (New York, 1968), with numerous citations therein. On Paul Frellon, publisher of the volume, see Bibliography Lyonnais V, 271-285. On the library of the Collège de Clermont, cf. Histoire des bibliothèques Françaises II, pp. 60-61, with reproduction. On the royal bookbinders to Louis XIV, see Esmerian's Douze tableaux synoptiques sur la reliure au XVIIe siecle (Paris, 1973).- $3,500
- $3,500
Le dessein ou la perspective militaire : piece tres-facile, et tres necessaire à tous ceux qui desirent de pratiquer l’Art de fortifier
BOURDIN, Pierre BOURDIN, Pierre. Le dessein ou la perspective militaire: piece tres-facile, et tres necessaire à tous ceux qui desirent de pratiquer l'Art de fortifier. 239, [1] pp. Illustrated with 111 full page woodcuts. 8vo., 163 x 100 mm, bound in contemporary full calf, red morocco spine label. Paris: Benard, 1655. A charming little book of considerable rarity depicting numerous fortifications. Bottom of spine cracked, but still sound. OCLC lists just 2 copies in France and one in Germany.- $2,500
- $2,500
Japanese Street Scenes
JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHS JAPANESE PHOTOGRAPHS. Japanese Street Scenes. 10 hand coloured photographic plates. Oblong 8vo, 145 x 190 mm., Japanese style cloth boards. Boston: Knight and Millet, ca. 1900. A scarce and charming little photobook comprised of tipped in coloured photographs with printed captions. Among the evocative scenes are: "A Street in the Yoshiwara of Kyoto" "Theatre Street, Osaka" and "Main Street, Yokohama". Not listed in OCLC.- $1,250
- $1,250
Atarashiki Doitsu.
SHIN DOITSU KOKKA TAIKEI KANKOKAI. SHIN DOITSU KOKKA TAIKEI KANKOKAI. Atarashiki Doitsu. 84 pages (some folded; 3 inserts), chiefly illustrated. Folio, 295 x 208 mm., publisher's cloth and illustrated dust jacket. Tokyo: Nikko Shoin, 1941. An immaculate copy of this photobook extolling the virtues of their new German allies. OCLC lists only the copy at Yale.- $1,250
- $1,250
Photo Publicite
MUROTA, Kurazo(ed.). MUROTA, Kurazo(ed.). Photo Publicite 1933.112pp.Folio., Publisher's wrappers in spiral binding, in a new cloth folding box. Tokyo: Seibundo,1933. A splendid collection of avant-garde photographs by such photographers as Shoji Ueda, Ihei Kimura, Katsuji Fukuda, Masao Horino, Iwata Nakayama, Koyo Okada.- $975
- $975
Nova Alphati Effictio.
BRY, Johann Theodor; Bry, Johann Israel; De Bry DE BRY, Johann Theodor and J. I. DE BRY. Nova Alphati Effictio histories ad singulas literas correspondentibus, et toreumate Bryanaeo artificiose in aes incises illustrate. Engraved title-page, 24 elaborately engraved plates of letters, all with grotesque Mannerist ornamentation. 4to., 325 x 212 mm, bound by Rivière in full crushed brown morocco, triple gilt fillet on covers, floral gilt ornaments in corners, spine with intricate floral tooling in compartments, a.e.g. Frankfurt: [De Bry], 1595. First Edition of this celebrated and rare Renaissance Alphabet Book. "Elles représentent un grand Alphabet majuscule dont les lettres sont formées par découpures mouvementées ornées de figures de trophées, d'oiseaux, de fleurs et de fruits" (Guilmard, Les Maîtres Ornemanistes, p. 368). The letters appear in uppercase and are embedded within elaborate ornamentation consisting of Biblical figures, nymphs, fauns, musical instruments, cherubs, lovers, insects, fruits, birds, trophies, fish, lobsters, flowers, splendid entrelacs and luxurious arabesques. These extravagant illustrations are characterized by a disintegration of reality, in which the forms have been redistributed in accordance with the fantasy of the De Bry brothers. The mixture of grotesque, classical and symbolic imagery executed with supreme artistic bravado elevates this work to the pinnacle of published ornamental alphabet books. Each engraving is accompanied by a letterpress text in German and Latin on the verso, where the subject matter is identified. The engravings are individually "signed" with "J.T.B. fe." A second edition of the work appeared at Cologne in 1613. The rarity of this first edition is attested by the recent facsimile of it (Ravensburg, 1997). No copies sold at auction as listed by ABPC; OCLC lists 7 copies in America (at Houghton, Morgan Library, NYPL, Walters Art Gallery, RISD, Newberry and the University of Virginia). There are also 7 copies listed in European institutions. This copy had the engravings cut out and mounted during the nineteenth century on large papier Hollande in a folio format. However, the size of the cut-out sheets (195 x 150 mm) remains fully intact; the folio sheets measure 325 x 212 mm. Some insignificant spots to interleaved sheets, binding with minor rubbing to extremities. This copy lacks the two dedication leaves, which includes the text to the letter A on the verso of the second leaf. A desirable copy nonetheless. PROVENANCE: Sir John Stirling Maxwell (1818-1878) with his private ex-libris, his sale Christie's London 1958, Lot 59 and with the Nether Pollok "Arts of Design" ex-libris. Berlin Katalog 5281. Guimard, Les Maîtres Ornemanistes, p. 368, No. 38. Bonacini 292 ("estremamente rara"). Brunet I, 1309. BMC German 161. See: Becker, The Practice of Letters, The Hofer Collection of Writing Manuals, 1514-1800, for the 1596 German edition of Alphabeten.- $17,500
- $17,500
Les Vierges
RODENBACH, Georges. RODENBACH, Georges. Les Vierges. WITH: Les Tombeaux. Two volumes. Unpaginated, illustrated with 4 original coloured lithographs by Jozsef Rippl-Ronai, plus 3 woodcuts by James Pitcairn-Knowles. 8vo, 250 x 170 mm., both bound in original publisher's illustrated wrappers with woodcut illustrations by Pitcairn-Knowles, and each preserved in a morocco-backed sleeve and matching slipcase. Paris: Samuel Bing, 1895. Pitcairn-Knowles conceived an idea for an imaginary book and illustrated it with a series of woodcuts. He then induced his friend Jozsef Rippl-Ronai to create four coloured lithographs for another unwritten book, Les Vierges. With these illustrations already finished, they approached gallery owner Samual Bing, who had excellent connections in the publishing world. Bing commissioned the Belgian writer Georges Rodenbach, author of the symbolist novel Bruges la Morte, to write texts based on the Nabis-style illustrations of Pitcairn-Knowles and Rippl-Ronai. Fine copies of these fragile works, each limited to 500 copies. Turn of the Century 64. From Manet to Hockney 12. Monod 9810.- $8,500
- $8,500
Yushusen no geijutsu Shakaigaku-teki bunseki. (The Art of Superior Ships: A Sociological Analysis
ITAGAKI, Takao ITAGAKI, Takao. Yushusen no geijutsu Shakaigakuteki bunseki. [The Art of Superior Ships: A Sociological Analysis.] 182 pp., illustrated throughout. 8vo, 198 x 150 mm., publisher's cloth. Tokyo: Tenninsha, 1930. A stunning photobook by one of the outstanding Japanese photographers of the interwar years. This precedes his iconic work, Kamera me x tetsu kosei, by two years, and although less well known, is an important example of his sensibility as a photographer. The striking Bauhaus-style cloth binding is slightly soiled, but still a good copy of an important work. OCLC lists only the copy in the National Diet Library. Heiting and Ryuchi. The Japanese Photobook, No.43- $1,250
- $1,250
The Chemistry of c Combustion,applied to the Economy of Fuel, with special reference to the cCnstruction of Fire Chambers for Steam Boilers
DIMOND, E.W. DIMOND, E.W. The Chemistry of Combustion,applied to the Economy of Fuel, with special reference to the Construction of Fire Chambers for Steam Boilers. xiii., 162pp. with 4 double-page plates and 2 single. 8vo., publisher's cloth. Worcester: E. Fiske,1867. What would normally be a rather uninteresting nineteenth century scientific treatise is enlivened by four stunning colour plates. Although there is some marginal foxing, it isstill an aceptable copy of a rare book. Inscribed by the author.- $850
- $850
The Ritz, Paris. Collection of Original Groundplans for the 1898 Design of the Ritz in Paris
MEWES, Charles MEWES, Charles. The Ritz Hotel, Paris. Collection of Renderings for the 1898 and 1911 Construction of the Ritz Hotel in Paris. 46 mounted sheets, various sizes, Zincographs with watercolour additions. Large folio, modern cloth-backed boards. Paris: [1898-1911]. At the beginning of the 20th century, The Ritz Hotel in Paris was the hangout of many celebrities and literati such as Marcel Proust, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Coco Chanel. Located on the Place Vendôme in the heart of the 1st arrondissement, the building is in the classic late 17th century style, designed by the royal architect Jules Hardouin-Mansart. The original plan was to situate government offices in a group of buildings, but due to financial difficulties only the façade was constructed and the land behind it was later sold to aristocrats for private residences. In 1896 Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz acquired one of the buildings and engaged Charles Mewès, an architect known for his grand buildings in the classical style, to update the original 1705 structure. Ritz's innovative standards of hygiene demanded a bathroom for every suite, the maximum possible amount of sunlight, and the minimum of curtains and other hangings. At the same time he furnished the hotel with all the old-fashioned appeal of an English or French gentleman's house, in order to make clients feel at home. Mewes's transformation of what was then the Hotel de Gramont, into the Ritz, resulted in the first hotel in the world to have a bathroom for each room, thanks to his invention of ventilation courtyards. These two massive volumes show Mewes's plans for the original building and for the later 1911 expansion into an adjoining building. Each of the sheets is signed by all the various people involved in the construction, with most measuring an average of 575 x 1700 mm. This is a unique document detailing the creation of one of the world's legendary buildings. PROVENANCE: From the collection of Thierry Despont, the architect responsible for the most recent renovation of the Ritz.- $75,000
- $75,000
I quattro libri dell’ architettura. Four books in one volume.
PALLADIO, Andrea PALLADIO, Andrea. I quattro libri dell' architettura. Four books in one volume. 34 ff., 40 ff., 24 ff., 68 ff., profusely illustrated with 217 woodcuts throughout the four books, of which 156 are full-page (of these 84 are printed as plates, recto and verso of 42 leaves). Folio, 295 x 200 mm., bound in slightly later Italian calf over paper boards. Venice: Domenico de' Franceschi, 1570. First edition of the four books together, a work of superlative importance in the history of architecture. "Palladio's lasting influence on architectural style in many parts of the world was exercised less through his actual buildings than through his textbook. Palladio left no immediate successors, his book exerted a powerful influence on contemporary architecture and classical ideals until the end of the eighteenth century" (Printing and the Mind of Man pp. 55-6). The influence which this work had on eighteenth-century England and America cannot be over-emphasized. "Palladio's Quattro Libri (Venice, 1570) is the influential architectural testament in which he set out his formulae for the orders, for room sizes, for stairs and for the design of detail. In the Fourth book he published restorations of the Roman temples which he had studied most closely and, in the Second and Third books (as no architect had done until then), offered a sort of retrospective exhibition of his own designs for palaces, villas, public buildings and bridges. Concise and clear in its language, effective in its communication of complex information through the coordination of plates and texts, the Quattro Libri represents the most effective illustrated architectural publication up to that time. The intelligence and clarity of the 'interface' which Palladio offers to his readers can be seen if one compares it to Serlio's architectural books which started to appear in 1537. Whereas Serlio does not inscribe dimensions on the plates but laboriously rehearses them in the small print of his text, Palladio frees the text of this encumbrance and places the measurements directly on the plans and elevations. It was therefore not only Palladio's architecture, with its rational basis, its clear grammar, and its bias towards domestic projects, but the effectiveness of his book as a means of communication that led to the immense influence of Palladio on the development of architecture in northern Europe, and later in North America" (Guido Beltramini, Andrea Palladio: The Complete Illustrated Works, p. 9). Outer margin of title and first page reinforced, some insignificant browning and two corners missing small pieces presumably paper flaws. But overall an unusually fine copy of this landmark book. PMM 92. Mortimer, Italian 352. Millard, Italian 65. Berlin Katalog 2592. Besterman 78. Cicognara 594. Fowler 212.- $75,000
- $75,000
L’Architecture Francoise. Recueil des Plans, Elevations, Coupes et Profils des Eglises, Palais, Hotels et Maisons particulieres de Paris et des Chateaux & Maisons de Campagne ou de Plaisance des environs, & de plusieurs autres Endroits de France
MAROT, Jean MAROT, Jean. L'Architecture Francoise, ou Recueil des Plans, Elevations, Coupes et Profils des Eglises, Palais, Hotels et Maisons particulieres de Paris et des Chateaux & Maisons de Campagne ou de Plaisance des environs, & de plusieurs autres Endroits de France. Title-page and 70 plates. Large folio, contemporary full calf. Paris: Jean Mariette, 1738. This is Volume IV of Mariette's L'Architecture Francaise, and contains material from Jean Marot's collection, generally known as Le grand Marot, and illustrates Le Louvre, and the chateaux of Versailles, Clagny, Trianon, Marly, Meudon, Saint-Cloud, Chantilly and Maisons. The Millard copy consists of only 48 plates. Occasional spots and toning but overall a handsome copy of a rare and important work. Millard. French 114.- $4,750
- $4,750
Relation de la feste de Versailles du 18 juillet 1668.
Felibien, Andre; RELATION DE LA FETE DE VERSAILLES FELIBIEN, André. Relation de la feste de Versailles du 18 juillet 1668. 43 pp. text, with 20 plates. Folio, 408 x 275 mm., bound in contemporary calf. Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1679. First edition of these celebrated engravings depicting a magnificent royal fête staged at Versailles. The plates depict the six days of festivities between 4 July and 31 August 1674, in celebration of the reconquest of the Franche-Comté. Events include Lully's opera Alceste, a concert in the Trianon garden, Moliere's Le Malade Imaginaire, a banquet, fireworks, and illumination around the Grand Canal. Among the 20 superb plates engraved by Silvestre and LePautre is the famous Lepautre plate of Moliere in Le Malade Imaginaire. Slight wear to the hinges of the binding, otherwise a fine copy of this important book. Berlin Catalog, 3001, 3002, 3003. Hofer, Baroque Book Illustration, 53.- $3,750
- $3,750
Designs for the Pavillon at Brighton
REPTON, Humphry REPTON, Humphry. Designs for the Pavillon at Brighton. Title, Dedication, x, 41pp. With Frontispiece printed in bistre, 1 hand-coloured plan, 7 aquatint plates (one tinted with a sepia wash, six hand-coloured [one with an overpage, one double-page with two overslips, one folding with two overslips, one single-page with two overslips, one single-page with one overslip]), and 6 smaller vignettes). Atlas folio, 553 x 370 mm., bound in publisher's blue boards, in a modern buckram folding box. London: Printed for J.C. Stadler, 1808. First Edition. The Repton technique of before and after overslips of garden views was meant to aid in understanding the significance of the proposed changes he was making to prospective clients. Repton's goal was always an aesthetic one, to transform the landscape into a garden. In Designs for the Pavilion Repton alters the scheme slightly to offer winter and spring perspectives as well as the normal before and after comparisons. This original method of providing visual support for his landscape designs, intended for a single client, became an overwhelming success in propagating Repton's theories of landscape gardening to a wide public as well. This is the most complete contemporary record of Repton's Indian phase, and contains his ravishing and justly famous garden designs for the Brighton Pavilion, one of the most famous and opulent royal extravaganzas in existence. The work includes Repton's "Inquiry into the Changes in Architecture as it relates to Palaces and Houses in England.with some Remarks on the Introduction of Indian Architecture." In the "Prefatory Observations" the author admits that he is recommending novel designs in this volume which he had objected to in his former publications. Repton proceeds then to explicate his specific landscape and gardening principles which complement the new "modern gardening" theories being formulated in England. The hand-coloured aquatints include a general plan of Brighton Pavillon, and two of the largest plates with overslips that Repton ever published. There are fine engraved vignettes illustrating Gothic, Grecian, Indian and "modern" styles of architecture, and a large plate of the "endless variety of columns used in Hindu Architecture." Some wear and soiling to the boards, but still a more than acceptable copy. Abbey, Scenery 57. Tooley, p. 207. Martin-Hardie, pp. 128-9. John Morley, The Making of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton, especially "Humphry Repton's 'Designs for the Pavillon at Brighton" pp. 48-65 and figs. 16-37.- $15,000
- $15,000
Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia.
ADAM, Robert ADAM, Robert. Ruins of the Palace of the Emperor Diocletian at Spalatro in Dalmatia. vi, [8], 33, [1] pp., with 61 engraved plates on 54 sheets (some double-page). Folio, 525 x 370 mm., bound in full contemporary calf. [London]: For the author, 1764. First edition. "The book incorporated the first encyclical of Britain's most popular architect of the day, who had now been in practice for several years with an immense patronage. Adam makes it quite plain that the great palace of Diocletian forms the source of his ideas upon domestic building, and he modestly claims that it is the first private dwelling-house of the Romans to have been illustrated and described." Adam's account was based on his five-week visit to Spalatro (in Croatia, now known as Split); the sixty-one superb plates were executed after Clerisseau, Zucchi and others (some of the drawings survive at the Hermitage, St. Petersburg). In his introduction, Adam expresses his conviction that Diocletian had revived a taste in Architecture superior to that of his own times. Adam's "observance on unusual detail throughout is remarkable. Nothing is too minute to escape his notice. A careful reading of the descriptions shows whence Robert Adam derived his theories for the planning of his domestic buildings on a monumental scale, like Syon and Kedleston" (James Lees-Milne, The Age of Adam, pp. 67-69). A fine copy of this landmark book. Millard, British 1. Harris, British Architectural Books 4. Fowler 2. Berlin Katalog 1893. Cicognara 3567. John Fleming, Robert Adam and His Circle (1962), pp. 235-240. Georg Kowalczyk, Denkmäler der Kunst in Dalmatien (1910) reproducing 22 plates.- $15,000
- $15,000
A Book of Architecture
GIBBS, James GIBBS, James. A Book of Architecture. 2 ff., xxviii pp., with 150 engraved plates. Folio, 507 x 370 mm., bound in contemporary full calf, red lettering piece. London: The Author, 1728. First edition. This was perhaps the most popular architectural book of the eighteenth century; its impact extended beyond Great Britain and America to the West Indies, South America, India and even South Africa. Furthermore, "this was the first book by a British Architect consisting entirely of his own designs, executed and projected" (Harris). "The sheer number and variety of buildings and ornamental forms provided by Gibbs clearly appealed to amateur architects and craftsmen. The influence of A Book of Architecture was enormous. St. Martin-in-the-Fields served as a model for church building throughout the English-speaking world, and in particular in the American colonies, where architects such as Peter Harrison drew heavily from its example. The extraordinarily diverse and numerous borrowings from Gibbs through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including those of Thomas Jefferson for Monticello, are carefully studied by Terry Friedman in James Gibbs, 1984" (Millard). The work reveals Gibbs (1682-1754) in his fullest architectural expression, the designer of churches, country houses, garden buildings and pavilions, the "New Building" of King's College Cambridge, the Senate House, and also of church monuments, urns and pedestals, chimney pieces, doors, windows, and much more. The work is a cornerstone to any significant architectural library. Wear too the corners of the binding and insignificant waterstains to the lower corners of the text pages, but overall an excellent copy, and rarely found thus. Harris 257. Millard 22. Berlin Katalog 2270. Fowler 138.- $12,500
- $12,500
L’Architecture et Art de Bien Bastir. divisée en dix livres. Traduicts de latin en françois, par deffunct Jan Martin.
ALBERTI, L.B. ALBERTI, Leon Battista. L'Architecture et Art de Bien Bastir.divisée en dix livres, Traduicts de latin en françois, par deffunct Jan Martin. 228 ff., woodcuts throughout. Folio, 325 x 210 mm., bound in full contemporary calf. Paris: Jacques Kerver, 1553. First illustrated edition in French of Alberti's De re aedificatoria, the first book on architecture to come out in print in the western world. Beautifully printed in roman type with attractive headpieces and initials. It was published after the death of translator Jean Martin, whose translations of Serlio and of Vitruvius had appeared previously. Approximately half of the illustrations are based on those made for the first Italian translation of 1550; the rest are largely derived from Serlio's Book III and the 1521 and 1548 editions of Vitruvius. The initials are from those designed by Kerver for his 1546 edition of the Hypnerotomachia. The folded leaf at G8 with two repairs on the verso. An unusually fine crisp copy. Mortimer, French 12; Fowler 7; Kat. Berlin 2553. Adams A-490; Millard French 2.- $8,500
- $8,500
Plans, Elevations, Sections, and other Ornaments of the Mansion-House, belonging to the Corporation of Donacaster
PAINE, James PAINE, James. Plans, Elevations, Sections, and other Ornaments of the Mansion-House, belonging to the Corporation of Doncaster. Engraved title-vignette incorporating portrait of the architect by Grignion after Hayman, 17 engraved plates numbered 1-21, 4 double-page. Folio, modern 3/4 calf over boards. London: For the Author, 1751. Paine was appointed Clerk of Works at Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, in 1737 when he was only nineteen years old and he continued to supervise the building there until 1750, but Doncaster Mansion House was his first major project, from 1745-48. In 1745 Doncaster Corporation appointed him to design a Mansion House to be used for 'civic hospitality and celebrations'. Paine chose, as his inspiration for the facade of the building, Inigo Jones's unexecuted design for a Royal Palace at Whitehall for King James I 'A facade fit for a king'. At the age of 27, Paine's career was launched and over the next 40 years he established himself as one of the great architects of the Palladian Revival and an early exponent of rococo interior decoration in the mid 18th century. In the event, only the central section of Paine's design was constructed as the Corporation did not acquire the adjacent properties until the turn of the century. A couple of plates with insignificant marginal waterstains, but overall a handsome copy.- $3,750
- $3,750
Les Dix livres d’architecture
VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus [VITRUVIUS POLLIO, Marcus]. Les Dix Livres d'Architecture. Translation [20], 325, [17] pp. text, with 65 plates. Folio, full contemporary calf, recently rebacked. Paris: Jean-Baptiste Coignard, 1673. A fine copy of the first edition of the French translation of Vitruvius by Claude Perrault. The book begins with an allegorical frontispiece by Sebastien Le Clerc and contains illustrations by G. Tournier, G. Edelinck, J. Grignon, E. Gantrel and N. Pitau. An extremely important book for the study of French seventeenth-century architecture, being conceived by Perrault as an encyclopedia of practical knowledge for architects and was of immense use to his contemporaries and architects for the next couple of centuries. Some browning to text pages, but overall a handsome copy of an important book. Millard French 168. Fowler 326-418; RIBA 3512.- $3,750
- $3,750
