Search Results: Architecture from Rare Illustrated Books

USA, 1967. First Edition. Classic 1960s encyclopedia of American architectural designs for modern homes. Folio, 300 mm x 430 mm, spiral bound boards, 228 pages, 1700 black & white architectural illustrations including blueprints, slight marking to covers, minor annotation to interior, a very good copy.

Paris: Audot, 1828. First Edition. First edition of this French instruction manual for cartonnage or making and designing objects with cardboard and paper. Tools, techniques for making basic shapes such as cones, cylinders, globes, et cetera., and methods of colouring, varnishing, and gilding are discussed. Instructions for making decorative objects such as baskets, work boxes, and ornaments follow. The projects develop in complexity from this point, with examples such as the Ionic temple presented in the frontispiece. Plates engraved by Nicholas Louis Rousseau. Bound together with DE BÉCOURT, A. "Art de Fabriquer Toutes Sortes d'Ouvrages en Papier" Pour l'Instruction et l'Amusement des Jeunes Gens des Deux Sexes. Published in Paris by Audot, 1828. First edition of an ingenious work for children designed to teach them applications of geometry. With a hand-coloured frontispiece. "L'art de représenter en papier sur une petite échelle un objet donné, consiste principalement il savoir dessiner,… Read More

Sydney: John Fairfax and Sons, 1936. Of interest: Drawings of Grecian and Chinese Architecture by Hardy Wilson, nine full-page sepia plates; Professor Leslie Wilkinson on the functions of architecture; paintings executed abroad by Will Ashton; notes on Australian typography by Benjamin Fryer six page report with seven full-page plates of samples printed in black and red. An excellent source for the study of Australian graphic design and book arts during the 1930s. Colour plates of Australian cabinet timber veneers with one page of explanatory text. Nine pages of plates illustrating modern Australian furniture designs. Photographically illustrated architecture review, structures range in size from small residences to large city buildings. Small quarto, original printed wrappers, tipped colour plates, full-page black & white images; covers a little marked otherwise an unusually fine copy.

Sydney: John Fairfax and Sons, 1938. Special Issue - New Trends in Australian Art: tipped colour frontispiece still life by Russell Drysdale; Basil Burdett reports on modern art in Melbourne, twelve pages; Thea Proctor surveys the Sydney scene in seven pages; tipped colour plates reflecting modernist trends by Roger James, Isabel Hunter Tweedle, Grace Cossington-Smith, Enid Cambridge and Roland Wakelin; special architecture section on the new wave in Australian design. Small quarto, original printed wrappers, tipped colour plates, full-page black & white images; a near-fine copy.

Sydney: John Fairfax and Sons, 1936. Of interest: Long article by Adrian Lawlor on the dynamics of modern art. Illustrated article on Lionel Lindsay's watercolours. Detailed plates of Australian applied arts and crafts including fabric patterns, a wrought iron fire screen and lamp and ceramics. Tipped colour plate of wrought iron head of Mary Gilmore by Rayner Hoff. Maurice Lambert's relief panels for the Cunard line Queen Mary, illustrated. Lionel Lindsay on the Archibald Prize selections. Russian born Sydney artist Daniel Vassilief (3 plates). Photographically illustrated architectural section featuring a range of minimalist modern interiors. Small quarto, original printed wrappers, tipped colour plates, full-page black & white images; 1 cm circular stain on front cover, spine split, a very good copy.

Sydney: John Fairfax and Sons, 1934. Of interest: J.R. MacGregor collection of Australian art, illustrated with tipped-in colour plates by Arnesby Brown, Matthew Smith, Arthur Streeton, Hans Heysen, George Lambert and others; obituary of Sir John Sulman; report on the Imperial Russian Ballet tour of Australia; Sydney Art School exhibition; special architecture section illustrating commercial interiors of bars and restaurants; Australian theatrical poster designs by Albert Collins; Rembrant etchings in the Melbourne Art Gallery, 8 page article with 4 plates; shorter entry on Meryon etchings in the Melbourne Art Gallery; illustrated article on the architecture of Emil Sodersteen. Small quarto, original printed wrappers, tipped colour plates with a cobweb embossed tissue guard, full-page black & white images; some foxing otherwise a very nice clean copy.

London, 1835. Contains a wealth of information regarding practical and decorative details in the Roman, Norman and Medieval architecture of England. Fourth edition. Octavo, original half black calf, marbled boards, edges and endpapers, 340 pages + appendix and errata leaves, frontispiece, numerous engraved illustrations and diagrams throughout.

London: Print Collectors' Club, 1931. MERYON, Charles.. A collection of dark and moody Parisian scenes by master French printmaker, Charles Meryon (1821 -1868) paired with an accomplished essay by the curator of prints of prints and drawing at the Victoria and Albert Museum, Martin Hardie. Limited edition - this is number 422 of 500 - printed at The Baynard Press. Small quarto, 80 pages, introductory text followed by 22 plates in collotype, quarter bound cloth, original printed papered boards, some rubbing to spine, occasional spotting, a very good copy.

Stuttgart, Germany: Julius Hoffmann, 1923. First Edition. Exciting collection of architectural paintings, photographs, and decorative sketches in watercolour picturing modern interiors in Berlin, Nuremburg, Cologne, Stuttgart, London, Munich, Karlsruhe, Thun-Berne, Mayence, Bremen, Essen (Ruhr) and Darmstadt. Quarto, spine darkened, front board sunned, two-page introduction some foxing, mild edge toning to pages, previous owner's inscription, clean title page, all plates clear and bright, a very good copy.

Paris: Les Publications de France, 1953. Stylish vintage photography book depicting many grand French estates. A magnificent choice for any desert island reading list. Quarto, with photographic illustrations in colour & black & white; bound in decorated cloth boards, 250 pages, a very good copy.

Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1917. First Edition. A finely produced book of etchings, mainly of Melbourne scenes, by Shirlow who, according to Moore, "revived the art of etching in Australia" Octavo, original decorated wrappers with pictorial onlay, 24 plates, list of works; scattered foxing to endpapers, fore edge and title page, a near-fine copy.

London: The Studio, 1921. First Edition. Original gilt decorated papered boards with parchment backstrip. Very good. Notable for his skill in rendering architectural detail and moody Parisian scenes, "The Etchings of Charles Meryon" offers a diverse selection of the artist's work. Selected from the holdings of the British Museum by keeper of prints and drawings, Campbell Dodgson M.A., C.B.E.: '...But nothing I have said yet explains what there is in Meryon that makes him regard him as a great artist... It was the combination, in Meryon, of this high degree of mechanical skill with with a fine instinct for design and a poet's vision which was still more specially his prerogative that places him in a different category from a Lalanne, a Martial-Potémont or an Edwon Edwards. The old streets were not, for him, merely storehouses of picturesque motives, structures composed of walls and porticos, gables and spires, on which the sun arranged at day different patterns of light and shade; they were that,… Read More

Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1917. First Edition. A finely produced book of etchings, mainly of Melbourne scenes, by Shirlow who, according to Moore, "revived the art of etching in Australia". With a presentation inscription from the publisher George Robertson to his daughter. Octavo, original decorated wrappers with pictorial onlay, 24 plates, list of works; a little preliminary foxing, otherwise near-fine.

London: Country Life, 1918. First Edition. One of the finest garden books of the twentieth century. Christopher Hussey and Gertrude Jekyll created this impressive pictorial treatise dealing with "garden design in relation to architecture, and, to some extent, with architectural design in relation to gardening." Gertrude Jekyll in her association with Hussey and more famously, Edward Lutyens "devised appropriate rather than merely fashionable solutions; a surveyor's grasp of line and contour, allied to understanding of colour and plants, gave distinction to her designs." Jekyll's books are highly collectible and remain among the most important of all writings in the oeuvre of the garden. This is the most famous book on the subject, comprising introductory text and a superb assembly of photographs of garden ornaments of every kind, including wood and iron gates, steps, balustrades, urns, vases, courts, paved ways, seats, loggias, orangeries, dovecotes, parterres, sundials, topiary, pergolas,… Read More

Melbourne: Green Press, 1937. Signed Limited Edition. Edition limited to 100 numbered copies: Sir Ernest Scott's copy with signature on front endpaper. "Even today, when professional interest in undertaking work in Asia is stronger than ever, Hardy Wilson's up-front appreciation of the importance of Chinese architecture stands without parallel." Stanislaus Fung  & Mark Jackson, Architectural Theory Review  (Issue 1: Volume 1, 1996) Building upon an already established relationship with the National Library, Wilson's orginal drawings for the fifty plates in "Grecian and Chinese Architecture" joined their collection in 1935. "It was while contemplating the roofline of Purulia that Wilson made a discovery that would change the direction of his work. He became dissatisfied with the way the straight, Western line of the roof appeared to fall unchecked towards the ground, with nothing to ‘hold the eye' on its downward journey. Only Oriental, and particularly Chinese architecture avoided this… Read More

Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, 1970. Many of the plates in this book originally featured in Wilson's "Old Colonial Architecture in New South Wales and Tasmania", a legendary work in Australian architectural history, now a rare and desirable volume. Folio, 47 full-page plates; cream boards, previous owner's inscription on front endpaper and dust-jacket thumbed, else a fine copy in the original quarter cloth.

Sydney: Art in Australia, 1921. The life and times of Governor Lachlan Macquarie. Tenth number of Art in Australia. Deluxe limited edition of 25 copies with tipped plates in duplicate. Quarto, generously illustrated with tipped colour plates; original blue papered boards, dust-jacket with printed onlay; fine copy in a mildly worn dust-jacket.

London: Day & Sons, lithographers to the Queen, 1852. First Edition. THEORY GENERAL PRINCIPLES 'It has been well remarked, by no less a man than Locke, "that the mechanism of the arts contains more true philosophy than the systems of philosophers : " and in that observation he has perhaps only echoed the great dogma of Lord Bacon, "that the history of the mechanical arts is the most important branch of true philosophy." These two splendid apophthegms, pregnant as they are with meaning, had been adopted with remarkable felicity by the French Encyclopédists, as mottoes to that portion of their great work which treats of the industrial arts. The English are indebted for the proud position they at present occupy in the world of manufacture, and the reputation they have gained for the intrinsic excellence of their productions, to their deep and preserving recognition of the absolute utilitarian importance of the studies recommended by these and other great economists ; it is, however, only very… Read More

Paris: G. Claesen, 1860. Covering the periods of Louis XVI, Louis XV, Louis XIV, Louis XIII, Renaissance, Neo-Grec, and Moderne, here we find patterns and colour schemes for the painting of modern apartments in the mid-19th century. Ornate and decorative painted ceiling designs for living rooms, dining rooms, studies, vestibules, paintwork for paneling, corner pieces, examples of running wall friezes with leafage ornament, and fittings. Folio, bound in quarter morocco with marbled boards, 49.5 cm x 35.5 cm, chromolithograph title page + 60 chromolithograph and tinted plates, some wear to marbled boards. (Additional postage.

St. Petersburg, 1903. First Edition. 31 plates of designs, plans and photographs of dachas, printed recto only, 3 illustrated section titles, 3 leaves text including title page, publisher's illustrated card covers, designed by Ivan Bilibin, re-attatched and somewhat marked. Very uncommon.