Architectural, Furniture, Art Books and More from Charles Wood Rare Books
A Summer Miscellany from Charles Wood
By Michael Stillman
Charles Wood Rare Books has issued "A Summer Miscellany" of sixty recent acquisitions. Wood specializes in fields such as books about architecture, book arts, furniture making, pattern books, and other artistic endeavors. Those who collect in these areas will be keenly interested in these new offerings. Ask for List 2005-1. Here are just a few samples.
Likely the most collectible of American architectural books is Asher Benjamin's The Country Builder's Assistant. This was the first original American architectural book and is quite difficult to find. Wood describes it as "an absolutely essential cornerstone of any collection of American architectural books..." While much of the content was based on English sources, the designs were Benjamin's own. Though complete, this copy has had some restoration, and therefore is priced accordingly. Item 6. $12,500.
Item 58 is a most interesting addition for collectors of American architects, Frank Lloyd Wright in particular. Wright is almost certainly the most famous of all American architects. His best-known work is New York's Guggenheim Museum, but some 300-plus houses and numerous other Wright structures survive. Item 58 is a collection of 16 photographs taken at Wright's Wisconsin home/studio "Taliesin." Actually, it's "Taliesin III," the first two "editions" having burned down. They show Wright and his third wife, Olgivanna, family and friends. Several shots show Olgivanna holding her baby daughter, Iovanna, which dates the photos to circa 1926. Along with the immediate family, the photographs show a young Japanese couple and some musicians. Based on identifications given a similar picture, it is possible that these photographs were taken by Wright's granddaughter Elizabeth Wright Ingraham, herself an architect, but perhaps not since she would only have been three or four years old at the time. If not, they certainly must have been taken by someone close to Wright's family. $3,000.
For firearms collectors, item 11 is, On the application of Machinery to the manufacture of Rotating Chambered-breech Fire-arms, and their peculiarities. This pamphlet is excerpted from the minutes of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London. It was a lecture given them by American Samuel Colt. Colt had struggled to sell his pistol until the outbreak of the Mexican War brought him a large government order. That led to the building of his plant in Hartford, Connecticut, which still stands today. He expanded to London in the 1850s, where he struck up a friendship with Charles Manby, Secretary of the Institution, and editor of this pamphlet. $1,100.
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Architectural, Furniture, Art Books and More from Charles Wood Rare Books
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Item 7 is a 10-foot long folding panorama by Imre Benkert, Panorama des Semmerings. Printed in 1855, it depicts one of the marvels of its day, the Semmering Railway, constructed through the Austrian Alps in 1848-1854. This early railway had to master steep gradients, and engineers were forced to construct numerous tunnels and bridges to enable it to traverse its relatively short, yet challenging route. This panorama shows part of the railway along with the beautiful mountain scenery. $800.
Item 31 is a price book from 1815 for one of those items that just about everyone seems to have, paid more than they can afford to buy, and rarely use. The title is, The London Cabinet Makers' Book of Prices for the most improved Extensible Dining Tables... We all have one of these extendible dining room tables, too nice and expensive to actually eat off of except on the rarest of occasions, when we cover the table with enough pads and tablecloths that no one can actually see it. Evidently, these tables were popular even then, as this 1815 first edition was reprinted many times through the century. It needed to be reprinted not because the tables had changed but because the prices had. $1,350.
Item 59 is an unusual pamphlet by David Young, Observations upon Fire, with a View to the Best and Most Expeditious Methods of Extinguishing It, upon a New Plan, with or without Water. This was printed for the author in Edinburgh in 1784. Young recommends smothering the fire with something else if water isn't available, taking away its fuel, or blowing it out with gunpowder. I would recommend being very careful if attempting the latter. $500.
Charles Wood Rare Books may be found online at www.cbwoodbooks.com or reached by phone at 617-868-1711.
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