Search Results: Architecture from Rare Illustrated Books

Paris: Dan Niestlé, 1926. By the influential French architect, Charles Letrosne (1868 -1939), chief architect of Civil Buildings and National Palaces, first chief architect of the Paris World Exhibition of 1937, and officer of the Légion d'Honneur. A contemporary of Le Corbusier, Letrosne is also known for the remarkable concrete architecture of the zoo at Vincennes. Letrosne's Murs et Toits pour les Pays de Chez-Nous ‘served as a catalyst for the restoration of damaged communes all over France: including even those villages that had been left uninhabited by peacetime rural exodus!' Golan, Romy. Modernity and Nostalgia: Art and Politics in France Between the Wars, p.27. Two volumes, oblong folio, colour plates tipped in and many line drawings printed in pochoir; in original folder with ties, some restoration.

Greenwich (Conn.): Literary Collector Press, 1905. The standard work on papiers peints, illustrated with real examples from the grand old homes and estates of New England. The value of this book lies in the images of rare papers photographed in private homes, providing a record of some designs now impossibly rare: a superlative resource for the study of eighteenth and early nineteenth-century design and interior decoration. Limited edition, quarto, 83 plates, some colour tipped-in, rebound in attractive grey quarter cloth with gilt spine label, endpapers renewed, near fine copy.

Hobart: Platypus Publications for the National Trust of Australia, Tasmanian Division, 1964. First Edition. Magnificent photographic record of the fine colonial buildings of Tasmania, with an appendix of notes on each structure and a short biographical description of salient architects of the era. First edition. Quarto, superlative black & white plates throughout; original gilt-lettered cloth, fine copy with the dust-jacket.

London: William Clowes & Sons, 1886. First Edition. Thomas Riley. With sections on the individual states of Australia, promoting Victorian gold and wine, the minerals of Queensland and New South Wales, pearls from Western Australia, and the goats and merino sheep of South Australia. Also includes a study of the architecture of India, and with mentions of 16th century Maltese armour from the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, silk weavers from Cyprus, Chinese embroidery from Hong Kong, tea from Ceylon... The diamond exhibition in the African court was said to be the most popular. "It is hoped that this volume of Reminiscences may prove acceptable to four classes of persons: firstly, to those living in Great Britain and Ireland who take an interest in the progress made by their brethren beyond the seas; secondly, to those who, coming from India and the Colonies to participate in the imperial gathering and to judge for themselves of the results of colonial labour and enterprise, may wish to take home… Read More

Oxford, 1853. The second volume of a series begun by renowned antiquary Hudson Turner. Author, John Henry Parker, also edited 'The Glossary of Architecture'. Covers medieval towns, colleges, and everything from gate houses to chambers. "The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge have very few buildings so early as the fourteenth century; but the treasury of Merton college, Oxford, belongs to the time of Edward the First, and is a very valuable example of a perculiar class of buildings, being built entirely of stone, with vaults to the lower rooms and passages, and a stone roof to the upper chamber; there is no wood employed in any part of the structure, and it is consequently fire proof..." Octavo, navy cloth, rebacked, page-edges browned and some foxing of the prelims, illustrated with 122 engravings, occasional underlining in red pencil, a good sound copy of a rather wonderful book nonetheless.

SYDNEY: ART IN AUSTRALIA, 1932. First Edition. Decadent art deco publication with a splendid assortment of colour advertisements. Illustrated by many notable Australian artists, reproducing Will Ashton in oil and J.J. Hilder in watercolour, and includes a series of beautiful photographs of the Sydney Harbour Bridge by Harold Cazneaux. An article titled 'Our Glorious Surf Beaches' is supported by a suite of images of the Surf Life Savers. Quarto, silver-gilt decorated paper wrappers, 80pp, a very good copy indeed.

Sydney: John Andrew, 1920. Features numerous buildings of architectural and historic interest. Octavo, black and white illustrations, brown boards with paper label, a very good copy.

Hobart: State Library of Tasmania, 1992. Signed First Edition. Fifteen essays covering a diversity of topics related to Tasmanian history, from early jewellers to maritime exploration of the island. Limited edition of 1000 copies, signed by Stilwell. Octavo, plates in colour and black & white; original crimson cloth, fine copy in a fine dust-jacket.

Paris: Office Technique Pour l'Utilisation de l'Acier, 1935. First Edition. This impressive publication is a record of a competition for a grand large-scale exhibition building at La Defense on the outskirts of Paris. The competition was organised by O.T.U.A., publishers of the magazine l'Acier [steel], to exemplify the spectacular possibilities of steel in modern building. Thirteen invited entrants accepted the challenge with varying success. Results range through art deco monumental, severe modernist, and near-visionary. Detailed information is given for each entry: area plans, perspective views, plans, elevations, engineering details and calculations, materials and services. Folio, numerous photogravure plates, plans, elevations and details, black leather spine, coloured decorative boards edged with white leather (scuffed). Binding signed 'Barast', apparently one of a number of special copies for presentation, this copy numbered '8' and inscribed to M. Bruneton.

Chicago, 1900. Rare plan of the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900 detailing each of the exhibition spaces occupied by the different countries, listing the products that each nation has chosen to present to the world as a revelation, all contained within a little promotional pamphlet advertising American food exports. Small octavo, bound in illustrated paper wrappers, 100 mm x 127 mm, 18 pages, a near fine copy.