Rare Architectural Books
From Charles Wood
Rare Architectural Books from Charles Wood
By Michael Stillman
Charles Wood Antiquarian Booksellers has issued its 120th catalogue, "Rare Architectural Books from circa 1800 to circa 1950." There really isn't anything more to say in terms of describing what this catalogue is about. The title says it all. So we will just provide a few of the almost 200 listings found within.
Banister Fletcher and Banister F. Fletcher (father and son) produced one of the most popular works on architectural history, A History of Architecture for the Student, Craftsman, and Amateur... It has been printed in at least 19 editions. The 1987 edition included 1,621 pages and 1,524 plates. The copy offered by Wood has nothing like this, limited to only 300 pages and 115 plates. However, it does have one distinction: this is a first edition. It was published in 1896. Item 41. $300.
If you are looking for hints designing your villa, what could be better than Edmund Aikin's Designs for Villas and Other Rural Buildings... This is an 1835 edition of a book originally published in 1808, but includes a memoir of Aikin, who died in 1830, by his sister Lucy. Aikin's designs were marked by simplicity, his being no fan of the gothic revival of that era. Item 2. $1,500.
If villas are out of your price range, there's always Cottage Building; or Hints for Improving the Dwellings of Working Men and Labourers, by Bruce Allen. By the late 19th century, much more interest was being displayed in housing for working people. This copy, from 1886, was a tenth edition of a book originally published in 1849. Others would continue to be published at least as late as 1906. Item 3. $150.
If that's still too pricey a residence, there is always Stables, Outbuilding and Barns. Actually, some of these barns were undoubtedly more expensive than the workingman's house. Author George E. Harney offered plans for both expensive and cheap stables, barns, and farmhouses, along with a plan for a dairy, hen house, icehouse, and even a manure pit. For those not familiar with manure pits, you're lucky. They are for underground storage of you-know-what. This is a circa 1870 first and only edition. Item 52. $750.
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Rare Architectural Books
From Charles Wood
The Town of Tomorrow as seen from yesterday.
Item 168 is not only an item related to architecture, but a piece of Americana as well. It is the Plans and Sections, of the Obelisk on Bunker's Hill, with the Details of Experiments made in Quarrying the Granite, by Solomon Willard. Bunker Hill was the site of one of the earliest battles of the American Revolution, a full year before the Declaration of Independence. In 1825, construction of a monument to honor those who fought on Breed's Hill (the battle actually took place on Breed's Hill, not Bunker's) was begun. Legendary orator and Senator Daniel Webster gave the address. An aged Lafayette, gone from America for many years, had returned for a visit and helped lay the cornerstone. Webster would return for the dedication of the completed monument in 1843. In the years in between, Willard would serve as the architect for the structure. His book documents the construction and explains how the stone was taken and transported from the Quincy quarries many miles away. $1,000.
Item 4 is The New Tay Bridge. A course of Lectures delivered at the Royal School of Military Engineering... by Christopher Barlow. This may not sound like an exciting topic, but the Tay Bridge was an emotional subject when this compilation was published in 1889 England. The old Tay Bridge was an engineering marvel. Two miles long, it was the world's longest bridge at the time. The bridge was completed in 1877 and opened for regular use the following year. In June of 1879, Queen Victoria would cross the bridge, and later knight its designer Thomas Bouch. In December of that year, the bridge collapsed in a storm, and 75 people on a train crossing at the time would fall to their deaths. Disgraced and removed from further projects, Bouch himself would die the following year. The exact cause of the collapse is still not known, but it is believed structural problems with the cast iron used to join the columns plus cracked or loose bolts played a significant role. The new Tay Bridge, the subject of these lectures, was begun in 1882 and completed in 1887. It was the same length as the first, but double the width, allowing for both a second track and better stability. The new Tay Bridge survives to this day, and Barlow proudly points out that "only" 13 people died in its construction. $1,100.
As an aside, the Tay Bridges inspired a trilogy of poems by the man many regard as England's worst poet, William McGonagall. You may read these wonders on the following site: www.sinenomine.freeserve.co.uk/dunkee/poems.htmlThere are also numerous websites dedicated to this late 19th century poet who has achieved greater fame in Britain a century after his death than he could ever have imagined, though he would probably not be pleased.
You can see future housing, from the vantage point of 1939, in The Town of Tomorrow,a group of 15 brochures in their original folder. This set was printed for the New York World's Fair of 1939. Wood points out that the set is complete, despite some being numbered as high as 21, while other numbers are absent, and the folder calls for 16 brochures in total. Nothing like making life difficult for bibliographers. Along with the individual house plans in the brochures, the folder gives the layout for the town itself. Item 91. $650.
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Rare Architectural Books
From Charles Wood
Item 151. Still leaning after all these years.
William Brown's The Carpenter's Assistant... provides plans for various homes that might have been built in 1848. In his description of an Italian villa house, Brown says it is best suited for the "class of gentleman whose means and republican principles will not admit of their erecting more classical or regal edifices." Sure. I'm having dinner at Taco Bell tonight because my "means and republican principles" won't allow me to dine at a fine restaurant. I'll let you guess which of those two plays the more important role. Item 22. $850.
Wood describes item 11 as "the first major American book on railroad structures." Written by Walter Berg and published in 1904, its title is Buildings and Structures of American Railroads. Another bibliographer's nightmare, the title page states this is the "first issue, first thousand," but Wood points out that the first was actually published eleven years earlier in 1893. It was simply reissued with no change. Both the real first and reissue, however, are very rare books. In this book, over 500 different railroad structures are discussed. There are 691 illustrations. This should be of interest to any railroad collector. $500.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa has been leaning for a long time. Cenno Storico e Analitico dei Discordi Pareri... by Alessandro Torri was published in 1838. This rare book about the tower includes an illustration, and the thing was badly tilted even back then. Item 151. $475.
Included in this collection are 18 works either by or about Frank Lloyd Wright. For example, item 183 is his An Autobiography. This is a first edition. $325. Any Wright collectors should certainly see this catalogue.
Charles Wood Antiquarian Booksellers may be found on the internet at www.cbwoodbooks.com or reached by phone at 617-868-1711.
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