Home      Our Shop     Catalogues      Contact Us
                  
   
September 17,2019 eCatalogue
  
To order or for more details contact us at:  bookpress@bookpress.com or (757) 229-1260.


 
ALDRICH, Henry.  ELEMENTAL ARCHITECTURAE CIVILIS.
           











                                              
Oxford: D. Prince, and others, 1789. 8vo. Contemporary full-calf. Engraved frontispiece, (x), 54 pages; (iv), lxvi, 66, pages, 55 engraved plates. First edition. [Harris, 17].
 


Henry Aldrich (1648-1710) conceived of this work as a six-part study, but only two parts were written by the time of his death.  In 1708, only the first part was published in Latin illustrated with twelve plates.  This edition, in 1789 was the first edition of both parts, the complete work.  It begins with the Latin text and is followed by the first English translation of the work, complete with its own title page.  The translation was by Philip Smyth.  Thomas Jefferson recommended its purchase by the University of Virginia and a copy was finally donated by the Coolidge family of Boston in 1825 of the second edition (1818).  [See O'Neal, 5].  The work explains Vitruvius using plates based on Palladio's Quattro Libri.  Our copy contains a Subscription List, with two hundred and twenty-eight names.  The stipple, engraved frontispiece is by Geoffrey Kneller.  Eighteenth-century engraved armorial bookplate of "John Edwards," with his signature dates 1794 on front blank leaf.  Light, sporadic foxing throughout, else a nice copy in a sympathetic binding.


$875.00

  
BOUQUET, A.C., and Michael Waring.  EUROPEAN BRASSES.       
  



London: B.T. Batsford, 1967. Large folio. White boards. 79 pages. First edition.
  
A beautifully printed account of thirty-two European brass memorials, with notes on the strong influences that passed between these and the English brasses.  Each brass is illustrated with a rubbing and a page of notes.  The white covers are slightly rubbed and there is minor wear to the tips.  Still an attractive copy. 

  
$ 85.00 
 

(BRAYLEY, E.W.)  COWPER, ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF VIEWS, IN, OR NEAR, THE PARK OF WESTON-UNDERWOOD, BUCKS, ACCOMPANIED WITH DESCRIPTIONS.









London: J. Swan & pub. by Vernor & Hood, 1803. Large 8vo. Contemporary roan. 51 pages, engraved title leaf and 12 plates. First edition.

 
Scarce first edition with only four U.S. copies listed on OCLC.  "The poetry of William Cowper expressed a deep sympathy with nature and love for simple rural landscape.  Like the writing of Gilpin, it influenced the popular romantic taste for natural scenery at the close of the eighteenth century.  Nearly all his important poems were written while living in Weston and nearby Olney in Buckinghamshire.  Various images and scenes from his poetry can be traced to the surrounding countryside and, in particular, to the park and grounds of Weston-Underwood, the country home of his friend John Throckmorton, which lay adjacent to his own.  The "description of Weston Park" presented in this volume is similar in character to the familiar house guides of the eighteenth century, but written specifically to reflect the interests of the would-be pilgrim moved to visit the haunts and retrace the melancholy steps of the great poet.  The evocative plates which illustrate the text were drawn and engraved by James Storer and John Greig.  They include such scenes as the peasant's nest, the rustic bridge, the temple in the wilderness, the shrubbery, etc.  Listed in John Harris A Country House Index, (1979).  This copy has a three page manuscript poem, "To Mary," in which Cowper expresses his deep feelings for Mary Unwin - bound in between pages 16 and 17.  Hinges expertly mended.  Nineteenth century engraved bookplate "Rev. Geo Innes, Colege, Warwick ," and modern book lable.  Very good.


$425.00


DALY, Cesar.  MOTIFS HISTORIQUES D'ARCHITECTURE ET DE SCULPTURE D'ORNEMENT.  (DEUXIEME SERIE).  DECORATIONS INTERIEURES.  Two volumes.
 

 
 

Paris: Ducher, 1880. Folios. Publisher's half-morocco. (iv), 3, (1) pages, 7, 17, 17, 5, 16, 13, 30 plates; (iv), 3, (1) pages, 40, 54 plates. First editions.


A suite of measured drawings from French interiors in styles from Louis XII through Louis XVI (1497-1792).  The plates include sixteen chromolithographs, five of which are double-paged.  Daly produced a "first series" the following year, with measured drawings of exteriors.  Moderate binding wear, but internally very good.


 
$850.00

 
HOWELLS, John Mead.  THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF THE PISCATAQUA.










   
 

New York: Architectural Book Publishing Company, (1937). Folio. Cloth. (xxii), 217 pages. First edition.


Being a survey of the houses and gardens of the Portsmouth district of Maine and New Hampshire, with three hundred and one photographs and measured drawings of exteriors, interiors, and details.  Very good.

 
$95.00
 
 
KETTELL, Russell Hawes, editor.  EARLY AMERICAN ROOMS, 1650-1858.     
    





Portland: Southworth-Anthoensen Press, 1936. Small folio. Cloth, top edge gilt. Frontispiece, xvii, (i), 200, (1) pages. First edition.

With articles by Kenneth Conant, George Francis Dow, Samuel Woodhouse, Jr., and others.  Illustrations include measured drawings;  partly uncut.  Name in ink on front endpaper, else fine.


 $110.00

    
LAKEY, Charles D.  LAKEY'S VILLAGE AND COUNTRY HOUSES, OR CHEAP HOMES FOR ALL CLASSES.
  
  




New York: American Builder Pub. Co. , 1875. Folio. Publishers cloth. (iv) pages, 84 lithographic plates. First edition and only edition. [Hitchcock, 701].

A rare and uncommon book in trade.  The designs, in plan, perspective and elevation are for houses in both masonry and wood, mostly in the Gothic revival style.  They also include a few interior detail plates: some in strong Aesthetic Movement style.  According to the preface: "The following designs have all been selected from the pages of the  American Builder , but it is believed that subscribers to that publication will be glad to get them in book form, printed on fine paper.  As the  American Builder has been in existence since 1868, there was, of course, a great number of illustrations to select from.   We have chosen those which we deemed most suitable for a popular book of practical designs."  Mild wear at extremities, else very good .


$985.00


                 
LAMOTTE, Charles.  AN ESSAY UPON POETRY AND PAINTING, WITH RELATION TO THE SACRED AND PROFANE HISTORY.
 
      




London: F. Fayram and J. Leake, 1730. 12mo. Later quarter-calf, marbled boards. (ii), 202 pages. First edition. [Schimmelman, Books on the Arts, 104].

A collection of essays on the literary and visual arts, Lamotte offers an excellent reflection on English aesthetic sensitivities for his time.  The book was in early America.  Copies were recorded by John Mercer (Virginia) and the Redwood Library and it was advertised by a Philadelphia bookseller in 1790.  Very good.


 

 $985.00

LANGLEY, Batty.  THE LONDON PRICES OF BRICKLAYERS MATERIALS AND WORKS.
  





London: Richard Adams and John Wren, 1750. 8vo. Later quarter-morocco, cloth boards. xvii, (i), 390 pages, 32 plates. Second edition. [Harris, 460; Park, 43; Schimmelman, Architectural 
Books, 62].

The rarest of Batty Langley's works, first published as  Exaction Detected (1747).  It is extremely valuable for historians of the building trades, and was extensively quoted by Nathaniel Lloyd in  History of English Brickwork .  It was very valuable for American workmen.  It was advertised in Boston and Philadelphia during the eighteenth century.  Contemporary ink inscription of reverse of title page, "  London / Benjamin Ward/ His Book 1768 August 23."

$1,400.00

 
 
NEVE , Richard.  THE CITY AND COUNTRY PURCHASER, AND BUILDER'S DICTIONARY: OR, THE COMPLEAT BUILDERS GUIDE.       




London: B. Sprint, and others, 1736. 8vo. Contemporary full-calf. (Engraved frontispiece, xvi + 188 leaves). Third edition. [Harris, 597].

First published in 1703, Neve's dictionary was, to quote Eileen Harris, "an entirely new type of architectural book," the first architectural dictionary in England.  The third edition is the first to have the engraved frontispiece of the Earl of Burlington's House in Chiswick, and contains two thousand seven hundred new articles.  It was written in response to a two volume
Builder's Dictionary published in 1734.  Schimmelman recorded copies of this title at Yale, the Logan Library, the Library Company of Philadelphia, and other American locations.  Copies were also advertised in Williamsburg in 1764.  Technical dictionaries like this are of interest because most dictionaries, including the OED, frequently omit or ignore the use of technical terms.  Contemporary ink signature on title page.  Small early ink stain on frontispiece plate.  Professionally rebacked, but essentially very good copy of an important and scarce book. 


$950.00

  
NORMAND, Charles.  LE GUIDE DE L'ORNEMANISTE OU DE L'ORNEMENT.
 
     

 




Liege : Dominique Avano et Compagnie, 1847. Folio. Contemporary quarter-morocco. (ii), 12 pages, 37 lithographic plates, numbered 1-36, plus an unnumbered arabesque.
 

First published in 1826.  An attractive collection of neo-classical designs for vases, wall panels, and candelabra.  With marginal waterstains, not affecting the plate images, and slight wear to binding.


$300.00


OKELY, W. Sebastian.  DEVELOPMENT OF CHRISTIAN ARCHITECTURE IN ITALY . 
  




London: Longman, 1860. Large 8vo. Publisher's cloth. xii, 288 pages, 16 lithographic plates. First edition.


"A treatise on the early Christian and  medieval  church architecture of Italy which seeks to classify and date the major religious buildings of the period by an analysis of their separate architectural components (apses, piers, buttresses, towers).  Its author, William Sebastian Okely, was a Cambridge educated mathematician very much influenced by the architectural theories of William Whewell," (Hugh Pagan, 20:74).  Okely spent three years in Italy at the expense of the University of Cambridge as "travelling bachelor."  The substance of this book was sent back to the University in the form of Latin letters.  Neatly rebacked in calf with original spine label preserved.  Blind stamped on title page and table of content's pages "Presented by the publisher."  Very good.


$185.00 


PHILADELPHIA. INTERNATIONAL CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION.   Group of Six Medals commemorating the Centennial Exhibition.
                   



Philadelphia: Ornamental Wood Co., 1876. Hexagon shaped box (7 3/4 x 10 1/4 x 1 inches) with six medals made of wood.
   
A rare survival and an attractive piece of commemorative advertising.  A fine set, in its original display case, of six medals commemorating a visit to the International Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876.  The set was also used to advertise the Ornamental Wood Company of Philadelphia which has manufactured the medals using a newly patented process.  Two of the medals have "Pat[ented] June 1, 1875 " stamped beneath the portraits.  These medals could be purchased separately or as a set in a fitted case in three different sizes.  The Ornamental Wood Company exhibited in the Machinery Hall where visitors bought these medals as souvenirs.
 
The hexagon shaped box containing tray of blue cardboard with six holes, rimmed in gold, holding the six medals, the lid with a fine lithographed "Birds Eye View of the International Exhibition Buildings" (published by Breuker and Cassler, Philadelphia).  The six die-pressed wood medals have a diameter of 2 3/4 inches (for four of them) and 3 1/3 inches (for two of them).  The medals are extremely fine, the two larger ones show on the obverse the Memorial Hall and the Main Building while the smaller ones depict Independence Hall and portraits of George Washington, General Joseph Hawley (President of the Centennial Exhibition) and Alfred Goshorn (Director General and chief organizer of the Centennial Exhibition).  All medals are rendered in high relief on the obverse, while the reverse has around "The 100th Anniversary of the American Independence, 1876" with "Great International Exhibition Fairmont Park, Philadelphia 4th of July" in the field.  In excellent condition, the lithograph a little browned, the box outside in plain dark green card board, a few nicks but essentially sound. 


$1,500.00

 
RIDDELL, Robert.  THE CARPENTER AND JOINER, STAIR BUILDER AND HAND-RAILER.      
 





Edinburgh: Thomas C. Jack, (circa 1874). Folio. Publisher's half morocco. Lithographic title and tinted frontispiece, (ii), 124, (2) pages, 57 plates. First Scottish edition.



This is one of a few American building books to be reprinted in the British Isles.  It was first printed in America under the title, The Practical Carpenter and Joiner [Hitchcock, 1007].  It is a Model Book, with plates 54 through 57 in duplicate and mounted on cardboard so that the figures could be cut and folded into three dimensional models.  The tinted frontispiece shows nine views of carpenters at work.  Properly using the book destroyed it, so complete copies are most uncommon.  Very good.  


$785.00


SALMON,William.  POLYGRAPHICE; OR, THE ARTS OF DRAWING,ENGRAVING, ETCHING. LIMNING, PAINTING. VERNISHING, JAPANING, GILDING, &C.



London: A. and J. Churchill, and J. Nicholson, 1701. Two volumes. 8vo. Contemporary marbled boards, later half-Russia spines. Engraved frontispiece plate and title leaf, (32), 224, 301-475, (1) pages; (2) 477-939 pages, 23 engraved plates. Eighth edition. [Schimmelman, Books on Art in Early America , #150].


Scarce English arts and trade manual first published in 1672. Our 1701 edition was the last printing of this popular work and is greatly expanded to two volumes "with above five hundred considerable additions."  It was in Virginia by 1685 when William Byrd the first ordered a copy from London.  A copy was also in the library of Daniel Parke Custis, the first husband of Martha Washington.  Elsewhere in colonial America there were copies in the Philadelphia, New York and Burlington, New Jersey library companies as well as at Brown University.  It was still being advertised by book dealers as late as 1773.
 
It contains a multitude of useful information on the various trades, crafts and arts of the seventeenth century - drawing, engraving, painting including how to use perspective, staining and painting glass, and exotic crafts popular in the day such as alchemy.  The plates contain a variety of details on anatomy, facial expressions, classical sculpture, and examples of landscapes with classical architectural features and bridges and proportion rules in painting. 
 
Expertly bound in style, with early owners signature "Richard Over" and notes."  Head of title in second volume clipped, else very good for a work that was heavily used by tradesmen and seldom survived.


SOLD

  
(SOUTHERN AUTHOR) LEWIS, Henry Clay, and Robb, John S.)  THE SWAMP DOCTOR'S ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH-WEST CONTAINING THE WHOLE OF THE LOUISIANA SWAMP DOCTOR; STREAKS OF SQUATTER LIFE AND FAR-WESTERN SCENES; IN A SERIES OF FORTY-TWO HUMEROUS SOUTHERN AND WESTERN SKETCHES AND WESTERN SKETCHES, DESCRIPTIVE OF INCIDENTS AND CHARACTER.
 



Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson and Brothers, 1858. 8vo. Publishers original blue cloth, pictorial gilt spine. 203 pages; 187 pages. [Wright-I, 1659 & 2126].

Reprints of two southern classics including  Odd Leaves from the Life of a  Louisiana "Swamp Doctor," which is almost unprocurable in first edition (1850).  Streaks of Squatter Life was first published in 1847.  Each work has its own title.  Inscribed on general title: "James A. Nichols from T.B. Peterson & Co. Dec. 1878."  The date of the inscription may be significant as Peterson was notorious for using the same plates over and over without changing the date, the firm was not publishing until about 1859.  A handsome copy.
 


$225.00


(TRADE CATALOGUE)  HAMPTON 'S SEVEN-ROOMED SPECIMEN HOUSE FURNISHED THROUGHOUT.





London: (circa 1920). Oblong 4to. Publisher's pictorial wrappers. 16 pages. First edition.

 
Hampton and Sons was an interior decorator located on Trafalgar Square.  This catalogue offered a a complete, coordinated assemblage of furnishings for the suburban house including carpets, chairs, upholstery, pillows, curtains, tables, and related items sold as a package for two hundred and sixty pounds.  In addition to the lot price, each item is individually valued.  Very good.


$85.00

 
(TRADE CATALOGUE)   PITTSBURGH PLATE GLASS.  GLASS, PAINTS, VARNISHES AND BRUSHES; THEIR HISTORY MANUFACTURE AND USE.





Pittsburgh: 1923. 4to. Faux leather cloth. (xxiv), 208; (ii), 178, (xxii) pages. First edition.
 

An impressive trade catalogue, printed by The Lakeside Press, heavily illustrated, with much information about plate glass and paints.  Some chapters include: "Romance of glass"; "Making of plate glass"; "Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company today"; "Modern store fronts"; "Plate glass and furniture";  "Interior shop display"; and "Glazing of store fronts."  There are many printed charts (fifteen pages) of available colors for various usages in the chapter "The use of color."  These include interior and exterior gloss, semi-gloss  and flat paints, as well as varnishes, stains, and industrial use paints.  Very good.


$175.00

 
(VOIGT COMPANY)  THE CATALOG OF VOIGT COMPANY.       





Philadelphia: The Author, 1928. Small folio. Cloth. x, 229, (1) pages.

  
Examples of plaster ornament for ceilings, mouldings, medallions, and more.  Bookplate, edges and extremities of spine rubbed, else good.



$65.00


(WESTERN AMERICAN FICTION) RAYMOND, Rossiter W.  CAMP AND CABIN; SKETCHES OF LIFE AND TRAVEL IN THE WEST.




New York: Fords, Howard & Halbert, 1880. 12mo. Publishers brown cloth. 243 pages, including frontispiece. First edition. (Wright-III #4448).

 

Sketches first published in periodicals, some fact, some fiction, based on the author's own experiences as a mining engineer.  Seven are about Yellowstone; one about the ice-caves of Washington Territory; another about the ascent of Gray's Peak in the Colorado Rockies.  With an 1880 Christmas gift inscription "to A.F. Tilden" possibly by the author?  Could this be the same A[lphonzo] F. Tilden who was manager of the Esmeralda Silver & Copper Mining Corporation in Arizona , 1864-1865?  Nearly fine.


$185.00


(WINES-ARCHITECT AND ARTIST)   WINES, James N.  18 LITHOGRAPHS ILLUSTRATING THE TEXT OF CANDIDE BY VOLTAIRE.






 
Rome: Roberto Bulla, 1959. Large folio, 18 lithographs measuring 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches laid into flexible printed wrappers, with separate letterpress text on thin India paper, all laid into original black lettered buckram portfolio. Only edition. 

Rare item not recorded on OCLC but two copies are known, MOMA and Toledo Museum of Art. A limted edition production number 32 of 50 copies, each modernistic lithograph signed and numbered in pencil by the twenty-seven year-old artist who lived in Rome from 1956 to 1962, and while there he won the Prix de Rome in 1956.  Wines is an American artist, sculptor, highly acclaimed architect, and international lecturer associated with environmental design.  A professor at Penn State, he is the founder of SITE (Sculpture in the Environment), a New York based architectural and environmental arts organization in 1970.  He won the Pulitzer Prize for Graphic Art in 1955, and Cooper-Hewitt's 2013 Lifetime Achievement Design Award.  In 1983 he was appointed the chairman of the design department at Parsons School of Design.
 
Beside his accomplishments in graphic design, he is known for his distinctive architectural designs, especially through SITES.  In Virginia he was the creative genius behind the design of the showroom buildings for Best Company, a Richmond family based business operating from coast to coast in the 1970s and 1980s.  Their buildings became unique, surrealistic and unorthodox works of art - such as "Falling brick facades," the "Peeling facades," and the "Notch building."  Each building stands alone as a work of art and is not duplicated, and they can be seen from Virginia to California.
 
The back of flexible wrappers contains pencil inscription "To Mr. & Mrs. Richard Kimball, with many thanks, James Wines, August, 1964."  The buckram portfolio is a little dusty, and the set lacks one India tissue paper cover, else fine.


$2,200.00 


WYLD, Samuel.  THE PRACTICAL SURVEYOR, OR, THE ART OF LAND-MEASURING. 

 


London: W. Johnston, 1760. 8vo. Contemporary full-calf. Folding frontispiece, viii, 191 pages, 6 folding plates. Fourth edition.



Rare.  First published in 1725, it was popular in America, and recorded in several early Virginia libraries including the libraries of Dr. Nicholas Flood (1775) in Westmoreland County and the also by William Beverley of Blandfield Plantation in Essex County.  It was regularly advertised in the
Virginia Gazette up to the eve of the Revolution with several copies sold in the  Virginia Gazette daybooks as well.  It is a thoroughly comprehensive study of surveying methods for all terrains and includes the placement of buildings.  The fold-out frontispiece plate illustrates surveying equipment.  Extremities of spine chipped; hinges cracked but firm, else very good.


$785.00 


Bookpress
John R. Curtis
1304 Jamestown Road
Williamsburg, VA 23185
Phone: 1-757-229-1260