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ARCHITECTURE
“Large Scale” in Several Respects . . .
62 Engravings & Bedford Bound
(Absolutely
Classic of Its Kind). Brayley, Edward
Wedlake. The history and antiquities of the abbey church of St. Peter,
Westminster: Including notices and biographical memoirs of the abbots and deans
of that foundation. London: J.P. Neale for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, & Brown,
1818–23. Folio (37.9 cm, 14.9"). 2 vols. I: [18], 227, [19], 72, [10] pp.;
13 plts. II: [2], 304, [40] pp.; 49 plts.
$3000.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First edition, illustrated with a total of 62 engraved plates. Allibone describes Brayley “a laborious and accurate topographer”; he compiled and edited a wide range of works with titles featuring assorted Beauties, Picturesques, Histories, Antiquities, etc. The present work provides a history of Westminster Abbey and some of its associated luminaries, along with extensive descriptions of its architecture, sculptures, and paintings. The illustrator who portrayed many of the above, John Preston Neale, was an architectural draftsman and landscape painter “best remembered for his views of the nation's country houses, churches, and public buildings,” according to the Oxford DNB.
Binding: By Francis Bedford, signed, in dark brown morocco done between 1851 and 1880, covers framed and panelled in ornate gilt rolls with gilt-stamped corner fleurons and midpoint decoration. Spines gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather title and volume labels. Board edges gilt-tooled with triple fillets, turn-ins with gilt-tooled rolls and corner fleurons. All edges gilt. Stamped “F. Bedford” on lower front turn-in.
Provenance: Each front pastedown with armorial bookplate of William Arthur, sixth Duke of Portland.
NSTC 2B46491; Allibone 240; Brunet, II, 1215. Binding as above, minor shelf wear to lower edges and corners, vol. I with front board expertly reattached and with small dent to outer edge of front cover. Joints delicate, due to size and weight of volumes, but holding. A few pages and plates with faint foxing, otherwise clean. (24100)
Beresford Hope, Alexander James B. Public offices, and metropolitan improvements ... third edition. With an appendix on the expense of the government and of Mr. Beresford Hope’s plan of public offices compared. London: James Ridgway, 1857. 8vo (20 cm, 7.9"). 42, [2 (adv.)] pp.; 1 col. fold. map.
$500.00
Third edition, following the first and second of the same year: Though excluded, as an amateur, from the official city planning competition, Beresford Hope here puts forth his plea for a “lofty” building of more than three stories’ height, reinforced with iron and serviced by steam-powered “ascending rooms” — Otis’s safety elevator had been successfully demonstrated in 1853 and then very effectively in 1854 at the New York Crystal Palace Exposition.
The work opens with a hand-colored map of the area in question.
NSTC 2H29711. Recent moiré cloth-covered boards. Front free endpaper with outer edge chipped; title-page with small inked numerals in upper outer corner. A very clean, fresh copy.

Embossed Architectural Binding — EXCELLENT
Condition
Bible. English. Authorized (i.e., “King James Version”). 1831. The Holy Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the original tongues: and with the former translations diligently compared and revised, by His Majesty's special command. Oxford: Pr. at the University Press by Samuel
Collingwood & Co., 1831. 24mo. [528] ff.
$1150.00
A lovely gift Bible, presented in the 19th century to one James Henry Newman by five members of his immediate family.
Click the images for enlargements.
Binding: Contemporary embossed rich cordovan-colored morocco cathedral binding featuring inter alii the Holy Ghost (in Pentacostal dove–form), the Agnus Dei, and stained/leaded glass “windows” both pointed and rosette. Spine additionally with gilt-stamped title; turn-ins with blind-roll design. All edges brightly gilt.
Not in Herbert. Binding as above, in beautiful condition. First front fly-leaf with early inked familial gift inscription (including an explanation of one brother's having opted out of the group present!); second front fly-leaf with inked
dedicatory poem. (22266)

1850 in
Prosperous, Bustling Boston
Coolidge & Wiley. The Boston almanac for the year 1850. Boston: B.B. Mussey & Co., & Thomas Groom (pr. by Coolidge & Wiley), [1849]. 12mo (13.9 cm, 6.45"). 211, [5] pp.; 1 map, illus.
$200.00
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Opening with an oversized, folding map of New England “exhibiting the rail road
& telegraphic lines now in operation,” this almanac offers the usual calendrical information
along with memoranda pages, brief biographies of the presidents of the U.S., and descriptions of
Boston government, recent laws, and public improvements — the latter illustrated with in-text
steel engravings of the Boston Common fountain, the “new city jail,” the Boston Athenaeum, etc.Boston-area businesses with full-page advertisements in this publication include a
silversmith/jeweler, an apothecary, an upholsterer, a pianoforte manufacturer, and an ink maker;
also provided are both an extensive business directory and an index of the smaller in-text
advertisements promoting local merchants.
Binding: Signed binding of brown straight-grained cloth, front cover gilt-stamped with vignette of
the city and blind-stamped with two female figures representing Agriculture
(holding a scythe) and Law and Order (holding scales), back cover similarly
blind-stamped with central stamp of Benjamin Bradley & Co. bookbinders.
Drake, Almanacs, 4446; Spawn & Kinsella, American
Signed Bindings, 56. Not in Phillips, List of Maps of America.
Binding as above, spine showing minimal wear; clean and beautiful.
Front pastedown with ticket of a Massachusetts bookseller. Endpapers with
offsetting; map age-toned with offsetting, outer edges slightly ragged; one
index page with chip to outer margin, with loss of a few letters. Pages lightly
age-toned.
An excellent copy. (26684)
The House & Paintings Were ALMOST as Covetable as
the Books
Dibdin, Thomas Frognall. Aedes Althorpianae; or an account of the mansion, books, and pictures, at Althorp; the residence of George John Earl Spencer, K.G. to which is added a supplement to the Bibliotheca Spenceriana. London: W. Nicol for Shakspeare Press, 1822. 2 vols. 8vo (27 cm, 10.6"). I: viii, [4], lxii, 279, [1] pp.; 30 plts., 1 fold. map. II: [2], 322, [2] pp.; 1 plt., illus.
[SOLD]
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First edition. Dibdin's Bibliotheca Spenceriana is one of the high spots of British bibliophilia; Lowndes says “The collection is the finest private one in Europe; the catalogue will ever be regarded as of the first importance to the theologian, the historian, and the critic, and as a perfect model for the bibliographer.” The present two volumes, published as an accompaniment to the original four, are generally considered as a separate entity for cataloguing purposes. The first is dedicated to the Earl of Spencer's mansion, Althorp, including descriptions (and copperplate engravings) of the most outstanding artworks therein. The second provides a catalogue of “many rare and curious” editions of the Scriptures and 15th-century works in the Althorp library; it is printed in red and black with sections in black letter, and includes many wood-engraved reproductions of 15th-century illustrations, some full-page.
Between the two volumes there are 32 plates total, along with numerous in-text engravings.
Binding: Contemporary purple morocco, covers framed in two sets of gilt triple fillets, spines with gilt-stamped title and volume numbers; spine compartments framed similarly to covers and bands gilt-stamped. All edges gilt.
Provenance: Front pastedowns each with bookplate of the “Library Halstead Place,” giving case and shelf location there; vol. I additionally with small ticket of London booksellers, Myers & Co.
Graesse 383; Lowndes, I, 640. Bindings with minor rubbing overall, spines sunned to chestnut rather attractively, vol. I with corners bumped. Bookplate and label as above. Offsetting around plates and illustrations; folding map with light spots of foxing and inner margin reinforced.
A luxurious production. (25780)
Donati, Alessandro. Roma vetvs ac recens vtrivsqve aedificiis ad ervditam cognitionem expositis. Romae: Ex typographia Manelphi Manelphii, 1639. 4to (23.3 cm, 9.25"). [cross]6 (-[cross]1), A–Z8, Aa–Cc8, χ1 (=[cross]1?); [5] ff., 404 pp., [7] ff.; 1 (of 3) fold. plt., illus.
$700.00

The ancient world was of increasing interest in the West from the beginning of the Renaissance, and Rome as the ancient capital of the Empire and the seat of the Papacy proved an especially attractive subject for study. Roma vetus ac recens is one of the preeminent 17th-century works on the topography and archaeology of the Eternal City, and provides a detailed look at its historic monuments, including a discussion of coins. The author, Alessandro Donati (1584–1640), was a Jesuit and professor of rhetoric at Rome, who also published a goodly amount of poetry. This is the second edition of Roma vetus, sent forth one year after the first.
The volume’s text is in roman, italic, and Greek types, with sidenotes, an index, and ornaments including woodcut head- and tailpieces and woodcut initials, many of which are historiated.
A fold-out engraved plate shows the monuments on the Roman Capitol, signed “Ant. Alamannus delineavit.” Of the ten other, unsigned engravings, four are full-page and show early Rome and its environs, a statue of the Egyptian god Horus, ancient Roman coins, and examples of aqueducts and lead plumbing. Four more are in-text, showing Rome as originally founded by Romulus, as expanded by Romulus and Tatius, and additional coins; while two more long and narrow, curious engravings are found in the outer margins of pp. 97 and 112. That on p. 97 has been pasted over, but that on p. 112 shows the relative and actual distances of the ancient Roman half-foot and modern Roman half-palm—each divided into twelve inches.
Provenance: On front pastedown armorial bookplate of “Honest George” Dempster, (1732–1818), M.P., third laird of Dunnichen, and popular reformer.
DeBacker-Sommervogel, III, 132–33. Early 19th-century calf, spine with gilt-lettered and -ruled red leather label, gilt tools in compartments, and gilt date at base; double ruling at head and foot and above and below raised bands and date. Calf with stains, some small gouges and flakes, and corners bumped; joints open and fragile. All edges speckled red. Closely trimmed by the binder, shaving a few page numbers; some light waterstaining and other soiling. Inked note in top margin of p. 1. Apparently lacking frontis. and one fold-out plate—yet still, overall, worth having as
a strikingly handsome production.
(French Laborers). Manuscript on paper, in French. “L’an mille huit cent Sept. le vingt Juilliette....” Paris, 1800. Folio (37 cm, 14.5"), 28 pp.
$250.00
Manuscript assessment of architectural and construction work planned or performed for “Madamme Hauchet du Charnoy” [sic] by Victor Delamarre, mason, and Pierre Gautier, carpenter, including estimated charges. Items cited include “un autre batimant . . . servant de bergerie,” “les grandes portes de bois chenies,” “un pavillion a deux étage entre la grande porte et la petite porte,” and “le mures du jardin” (all phrases given as written — [sic]).
Click the image to the left
for an enlargement.
Sewn. Some edges ragged; worming to upper margins of last few leaves, touching two letters.

Do
It Yourself!
— PAINT
a Farm Wagon or
a Drawing Room
Gardner, Franklin B. How to paint. A complete compendium of the art. Designed for the use of the tradesman, mechanic, merchant, and farmer, and to guide the professional painter ... New York: Samuel R. Wells, 1872. 16mo (15.7 cm, 6.2"). 127, [17 (adv.)] pp.;
illus.
$200.00
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First edition. The front cover proclaims “Every Man His Own Painter,” and Gardner obliges with Victorian-era how-tos (some illustrated) for “satisfactory results in plain and fancy painting of every description, including gilding, bronzing, staining, graining, marbling, varnishing, polishing, kalsomining, paper-hanging, striping, lettering, copying, and ornamenting.” The volume closes with a series of advertisements for contemporary crazes including decalcomanie goods, phrenological books and journals, and hydropathic cookbooks.
Provenance: Pencilled ownership inscriptions of W. G. Benton.
Rare in the first edition, with only one copy located via OCLC and none added by NUC Pre-1956.
Publisher's brown pebbled cloth, front cover and spine with gilt-stamped title; rubbed overall, edges darkened, spine extremities chipped. Front hinge (inside) cracked; front pastedown and free endpaper with pencilled ownership inscriptions; front fly-leaf partially excised. Light foxing variably throughout. (24377)

“A Good Kind of House to Build” — 228 Pages of Plates
Hodgson, Frederick Thomas. Practical bungalows and cottages for town and country. Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co., © 1906. 12mo. 8, [15 (index & adv.) pp.; [228] pp. of plts.
$125.00
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First edition: “Perspective views and floor plans of one hundred twenty-five low and medium priced houses and bungalows,” aimed primarily at the California market. This
volume offers a guide to the architectural plans available for sale from Frederick J. Drake & Co., most designs being represented by a half-tone photographic illustration of the front perspective and a blueprint of the floor plan, with prices given in the index.
Publisher's blue cloth, front cover with white-stamped title and pictorial vignette, spine with white-stamped title; joints and extremities showing moderate wear, covers with small spots of light discoloration. A solid, internally clean copy.
A pleasure, in hand. (26664)
Ireland, Samuel. Picturesque views on the river Thames, from its source in Glocestershire to the Nore; with observations on the public buildings and other works of art in its vicinity. London: T. & J. Egerton, 1792. 4to (25 cm, 9.8"). 2 vols. I: Add. engr. t.-p., xvi, 209, [3] pp.; 1 map, 27 plts., illus. II: Add. engr. t.-p., viii (incl. t.-p.), 258, [4] pp.; 1 map, 25 plts., illus.
$1875.00
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mouse-over, for an enlargement.
First edition of Ireland’s guidebook to the architectural, botanical, artistic, and historical pleasures to be found along the Thames, featuring assorted poetical digressions as well as descriptions of the splendor of Blenheim Castle and other castles and manors, the disrepair of London Bridge, and paintings by Rubens and Holbein. The two volumes are copiously illustrated with
52 aquatint plates engraved by C. Apostool after drawings by Ireland, 2 maps, and
a number of in-text cuts.
ESTC T2691; Abbey, Scenery, 430. Period-style quarter calf over marbled paper–covered sides, spines with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels, gilt-ruled raised bands, and gilt-stamped decorations in compartments. Versos only of half-titles, title-pages, and a few other leaves stamped by a now-defunct institution. Plates lightly to moderately spotted, with some instances of light offsetting to pages around plates. Pages faintly age-toned, with edges untrimmed; one leaf with lower outer corner torn away, not touching text.
This supplies both handsome, interesting pictures and good, now quaint reading.
Jefferson,
Thomas (President, 1801–1809). Message from the President of the United States, transmitting plans and estimates of a dry dock, for the preservation of our ships of war. 28th December, 1802. Referred to the Committee appointed on the 17th instant, on so much of the Message of the President of the United States, as relates to our navy yards, and the building of docks. Washington City: Pr. by William Duane & Son, 1802. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). 25 pp.
[SOLD]

Contains Jefferson’s forwarding letter, a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, a report made by
Benjamin Henry Latrobe on the subject of constructing a dry dock in the city of Washington, and two
additional letters. P. 19 is a folding table (verso blank).
Click the image for an enlargement.
Shaw & Shoemaker 3361. Recent paper wrappers. Title-page darkened, with small chip at upper margin, two short tears at lower margin, and an early inked annotation. Short edge tears to some outer margins, not touching text. Outer edge untrimmed, bottom edge unevenly trimmed.
Keate, George. Netley Abbey. An elegy...the second edition, corrected and enlarged. London: J. Dodsley, 1769. 4to ( 26.4 cm, 10.4"). 31, [1 (blank)] pp. (lacking the half-title).
$250.00
Originally published in 1764 under the title Ruins of Netley Abbey (and a different item from the anonymously printed Ruins of Netley Abbey of 1765), this poem features an engraved vignette of the titular ruins, done by C. Grignion, on the title-page; also present is a brief history of the abbey. ESTC T75210. Marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Half-title lacking. Upper margin of title-page showing small abrasions and traces of affixed paper; title-page and several others stamped by a now-defunct institution.
Villa Benedetta in Words — A Copy of a RARITY for a Reader
Mayer, Matteo. Villa Benedetta. Roma: Per il Mascardi, 1677. 12mo (14.5 cm; 5.75"). 127, [1 (blank) pp. Lacks the 3 leaves of plates.
$300.00
First of three editions of Mayer’s architectural description of the Villa Benedetta in Rome. The format suggests that the volume was written for the tourist travelling “to see the sights.”
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WorldCat locates only two copies of this edition.
Recent marbled paper-covered boards with leather spine label. Without the plates; light age-toning. (26145)

“Marble is Never Commonplace”
National Association of Marble Dealers. The everyday uses of marble. Cleveland: The National Association of Marble Dealers, © 1927. 8vo. 76 pp.; illus.
$65.00
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Sole edition: Promoting the usage of marble in banks, bathrooms, churches, gardens, libraries, railroad stations, stores, and just about anywhere else it could be employed architecturally or decoratively. The volume is illustrated with
photographs of a wide variety of interiors and exteriors.
Publisher's brown marbled, textured paper–covered boards, front cover with gilt-stamped title. Clean and unworn.
Not a commonplace copy! (26833)

Long the Standard in its Field — Many Illustrations
Potter, John. Archaeologia graeca or the antiquities of Greece. The fifth edition. London: Ja. & Jo. Knapton, R. Knaplock, J. & B. Sprint, et al., 1728. 8vo (19.8 cm, 7.75"). 2 vols. I: iv, [4], 464, [28 (index)] pp.; 2 fold. plts., 7 plts. II: [4], 420, [36 (34 index, 2 adv.)] pp.; 9 fold. plts., 13 plts.
$550.00
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Fifth edition of this popular and then-authoritative history of ancient Greece, following the first of the previous year. Written by the archbishop of Canterbury (bishop of Oxford at the time of this publication), the work incorporates numerous and extensive Greek quotations. This edition is
illustrated with 31 copper-engraved plates (11 folding) depicting temples, theatres, wrestlers and other burly athletes, armor, military maneuvers, ships, and elephant- and horse-drawn war carriages; the title-pages are printed in red and black, and the text is ornamented with head- and tailpieces in addition to decorative capitals.
Present here under a handsome headpiece is a vigorous two-page note from "THE BOOKSELLERS TO THE READER," explaining why first editions are not always to be preferred and why some editions may not be among the trustworthy!
ESTC T121647; Graesse 428; Lowndes 1932. Contemporary speckled calf, framed and panelled in blind with panel of plain calf decorated with blind roll and blind-tooled corner fleurons, rebacked with sympathetic calf, spines with gilt-stamped green leather title and volume labels, gilt-dotted raised bands, and blind-tooled compartment decorations; original leather showing minor pitting and cracking more pronounced towards edges. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate and call number on front pastedowns, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. Hinges (inside) unobtrusively reinforced with paper. Title-page of vol. I with early inked annotations regarding author's identity and additional editions of this work. Pages age-toned; first and last few leaves with offsetting to margins from turn-ins. (27102)
A
Successful Architect's Guide
to
Victorian
Home-Building
Richardson, C.J.
The Englishman's house. A practical guide for selecting or building a house.
London: Chatto & Windus, [ca. 1875-80]. 8vo (19.6 cm, 7.7"). Col. frontis.,
viii, 504, 32 (adv.) pp.; illus.
[SOLD]
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Third edition, with nearly 600 in-text and full-page illustrations, including a color-printed frontispiece. First published in 1870, this work also appeared under the titles Picturesque Designs for Mansions, Villas, Lodges, Etc. and The Englishman's House, From a Cottage to a Mansion. It includes elevations and plans of an array of lodges, cottages, rectories, country houses, and both formal and informal villas, as well as suggestions for garden planning, exterior and interior decoration, and fireplace construction. Richardson was a pupil of Sir John Soane's and designed numerous houses in London and abroad; among his buildings was Harrington House at 13 Kensington Palace Gardens, which is thoroughly described here.
An excellent portrayal of the state of mainstream British architecture at the height of the Victorian era.
Binding: Publisher's green cloth, front cover and spine pictorially stamped in black and gilt. Fine lettering variously in black, gilt, and reverse gilt; black borders and embellishments; images of four different very fine homes in gilt. Interestingly, the spine adds to the title (this is not on the title-page), “WITH ESTIMATES OF COST.”
Provenance: From the Hallowell Social Library, a Maine institution, with their bookplate describing lending rules affixed to the front pastedown.
On Richardson, see: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online. Binding as above and bright; corners, spine extremities, and spine gilt showing absolutely the most minimal rubbing, back cover with small area of faint, unobtrusive discoloration. Front pastedown with appealing “Social Library” bookplate listing rules of borrowing; half-title with minor spotting. Scattered light foxing and the odd spot; sewing just starting to loosen.
A very nice copy. (25794)

Three Plates with Cottage Designs
(Rural Housing Issues). Third annual report of the directors of the Association for Promoting Improvement in the Dwellings and Domestic Condition of Agricultural Labourers in Scotland. Edinburgh: Pr. for the Association by William Blackwood & Sons, 1857. Uncommon pamphlet, detail-packed as to both present housing realities and desirable changes, illustrated with three plates containing plans and elevations for cottage designs by architect William Fowler.
$139.50
Click the images for enlargement.
Uncommon pamphlet, detail-packed as to both present housing realities and desirable changes, illustrated with three plates containing plans and elevations for cottage designs
by architect William Fowler.
NSTC 2A17980 (for all years 1855–61). Removed from a nonce volume. Title-page with small inked numeral in upper outer corner, otherwise clean. (17033)

Thoughtful
& Imaginative
City
Planning for
Edinburgh,
1814
Stark, William. Report to the right honourable the lord provost, magistrates, and council of the city of Edinburgh, and the governors of George Heriot's hospital, &c., &c. on the plans for laying out the grounds for building between Edinburgh and Leith. Edinburgh: Pr. by Alex. Smellie, 1814. 12mo.
$250.00

Posthumous publication of Stark's last piece of city planning and architecture, incomplete because of his untimely death, but encompassing a broad and inspirational view of the possibilities the terrain provided and the needs of the city, hospital, and populace generally.
Click the images for enlargements.
Very uncommon: NSTC and OCLC locate only the copy at the National Library of Scotland. RLIN located only the copy at Yale.
NSTC S3358; Goldsmiths’-Kress 21080. Disbound. Very Good copy. (11008)
485
Stunning Views
of
England,
Scotland,
& Wales
EACH
IMAGE Hand-Captioned
Storer, James Sargant. Antiquarian and topographical cabinet, containing a series of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain. London: W. Clarke, J. Carpenter, & H.D. Symonds, 1807–11. 8vo. 10 vols. I: [approx. 112] pp.; 56 plts. II: pp.; 49 plts. III: [approx. 110] pp.; 55 plts. IV: [approx. 92] pp.; 46 plts. V: [approx. 86] pp.; 43 plts. VI: [approx. 106] pp.; 53 plts. VII: [approx. 98] pp.; 49 plts. VIII: [approx. 86] pp.; 43 plts. IX: [approx. 110] pp.; 55 plts. X: [approx. 72], [16 (index)] pp.; 36 plts. (15 plts. lacking of 500).
$2250.00
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Deluxe printing of the first edition, here in an impressive large-paper set illustrated with 485 copper-engraved plates. The engraved images designed for the duodecimo regular edition are here, in this octavo printing, mounted within printed borders with
hand-inked calligraphic captions. Those images depict such scenic high spots as Dunstaple Priory in Bedfordshire, Roman remains in Brecknockshire, the “great oak” at Silton, a Crusader monument in Winchester Cathedral, Tintern Abbey (of course), and many, many churches and castles; they were engraved by J. Greig, W. Angus, W. & G. Cooke, and J. Storer after drawings by various hands.
Each plate is accompanied by a letterpress description, generally about two pages long.
Binding: Contemporary green morocco, darkened to black; covers framed in gilt with gilt-stamped corner fleurons, spines with gilt-stamped title, board edges with gilt-stamped roll. All edges gilt.
NSTC S4069; Brunet, I, 319, Graesse 503. Bound as above with insignificant shelf wear only, now refurbished and a bit of scuffing; 15 plates lacking of 500. Most plates clean, some foxed (a few heavily); some pages with light offsetting from plates. One page with pencilled annotation detailing an 1823 update in a site's ownership.
A luxurious, in fact in its way spectacular, production. (22855)
Valentini, Agostino. La patriarcale basilica Liberiana. Roma: a spese di Agostino Valentini, 1839. Folio extra (47.5 cm; 18.75"). [4] ff., 118 pp.; 1 fold. plt., 102 plts.
$600.00
Click any image where the hand appears on
mouse-over, for an enlargement.
Italian-language work on the art and architecture of the Liberiana basilica in Rome, illustrated with more than 100 impressive full-page engravings (as well as one oversized, folding engraving) of the church’s art and sculpture, along with its architectural detail, plans, and design. Detailed explanations of the plates, which were engraved by Domenico Feltrini, are provided.
This handsomely printed and produced volume forms the second part of the author's “Quattro principali basiliche di Roma,” which also includes works (not present here) on the Vaticana and Lataranense.
Publisher's half vellum with marbled paper–covered sides, spine gilt extra with gilt-stamped leather labels; boards a little abraded and showing wear. Front pastedown with institutional bookplate; front fly-leaf with bookseller’s pressure-stamp in upper corner. Occasional light foxing.
A handsomely produced, still very impressive volume.

Spanish Southwest Mexican Art New World Biography
Vetancurt, Agustín de (a.k.a., Vetancur). Chronica de la Provincia del Santo Evangelio de Mexico. Quarta parte del Teatro mexicano de successos religiosos. Mexico: por María de Benavides, viuda de Juan de Ribera, 1697. Folio (30 cm; 11.875"). [12], 136, [4], 153, 56 pp.
[SOLD]
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This is part 4, issued separately, of the author's Teatro mexicano: descripción breve de los sucesos exemplares. The Chronica de la provincia del Santo Evangelio gives detailed descriptions of the Franciscan houses and missions in all of New Spain — especially in Mexico City and Puebla, but also in such far-flung areas as New Mexico and California. Henry Raup Wagner, the dean of bibliographers of the Spanish Southwest, labels the Chronica “a prime authority for the history of New Mexico.” Vetancurt further offers a marvelous section on various apparitions of the Virgin across New Spain, each being given a lengthy paragraph with full details. He ends his volume with a menology of Franciscans and a biographical list of the bishops, writers, and other notables who served or lived in New Spain; a number of these figures were martyrs and their stories are recounted.
It must be pointed out, because it is often forgotten, that art historians will find the Chronica to be rich in architectural detail and brimming over with information about art work in 17th-century New Spain churches and convents. Guillermo Tovar de Teresa, the great historian and bibliographer of colonial-era Mexican books containing information on Mexican art, writes of the Chronica, “Para la historia del arte en México durante el Virreinato es capital; su lectura es imprescindible para los estudiosos de la arquitectura de los siglos XVI y XVII.”
Provenance: Augustinian monastic library of Morelia (marca de fuego on upper edge of closed book; on verso of title-page in an 18th-century hand: “pertenece al convento de San Augustin de Valladolid”); private use of Fr. Manuel Aigustin Farias (noted on the verso of title-page in an 18th-century hand, prelim. p. 12, first p. 1); later owned by José Martín de Infanzón (prelim. p. 9).
Medina, Mexico, 1684; Palau 361217; Sabin 99386; Andrade 1073; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía novohispana de arte, 105; Wagner, Spanish Southwest, 68. Early vellum over boards, rebacked; new endpapers and title-page backed for strength. Stray stains and ink markings variously, the latter in margins; minor worming in some lower margins, with waterstaining notable in the final section and a brown stain perhaps of another nature in upper gutter-ward areas of the same section, sometimes into text. Final six leaves with loss of lower outer corner, including some text; paper replaced and text in excellent facsimile. Volume now housed in a quarter blue morocco tray case with gilt spine.
(26824)

A Fundamental Work
Handsomely Printed
Villaseñor y Sánchez, José Antonio de. Theatro americano, descripcion general de los reynos y provincias de la Nueva España y sus jurisdicciones. México: En la Imprenta de la Viuda de D. Joseph Bernardo de Hogal, Impresora del Real y Apostólico Tribunal de la Santa Cruzada en todo este Reyno, 1746–48. 2 vols. in 1 (29.5 cm; 11.5"). I: [9] ff., 232 pp., [2] ff., pp. 233–382, [5] ff., lacks engr. title. II: [6] ff., 428 pp., [5] ff., lacks engr. title.
$7500.00
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The distinguished historian and bibliographer Don Guillermo Tovar de Teresa writes extensively of this work, but here we will quote only a small portion of what he says. “El Teatro Americano es una obra fundamental para todos aquellos estudiosos interesados en formarse una idea de la poblaciones de la Nueva España: su ubicación geográfica — longitud y latitud — con la descripción de los lugares circunvencinos; clima, aguas,y vegetacion; gobierno eclesiástico y civil, familias de indios, españoles y castas, templos y, sobre todo actividades económicas: comercio, ganadería, obrajes, minería, etc.”
Don Guillermo wrote that in his bibliography of works illuminating colonial
Mexican art — and these two large volumes also have much to say, not noted
above, about
architecture,
arts, sculpture, etc.!
The
volumes are from the famous press of the widow of José Bernardo de
Hogal, the Baskerville of Mexico, and they retain all of the fine characteristics
that are associated with the Hogal name, including handsome black and red
title-pages, great typography (here in double-column format), and use of good
quality paper.
The author was general accountant of the Treasury's office of mercury accounting
(the element was important in silver refining) and one of the most illustrious
Cosmographers of New Spain. He wrote this treatise at the insistence of the
viceroy, who was greatly pleased by it.
Sabin 99686; Medina, Mexico, 3802; Tovar de Teresa, Bibliografía
novohispana de arte, II, 86/87. Recent full dark brown calf, round
spines, raised bands accented with gilt rules; green and red leather spine
labels; gilt center devices. Covers with elaborate gilt roll at edges, concentric
center compartments and gilt corner devices. Lacking the engraved title, only.
Present are intermittent touches of limited worming and, in vol. II, the occasional
old stain to a top margin's edge. This is a clean and indeed
BEAUTIFUL
SET. (26378)

The
Latest Agricultural Innovations, with COLOR-PRINTED Plates
Wells, David Ames. The year-book of agriculture; or, the annual of agricultural progress and discovery, for 1855 and 1856. Exhibiting the most important discoveries and improvements.... Philadelphia: Childs & Peterson, 1856. 8vo (24 cm, 9.45"). 399, [1] pp.; 5 plts. (4 col.).
$300.00
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First edition: “Agricultural mechanics, agricultural chemistry, agricultural and horticultural botany, agricultural and economic geology, agricultural zoology, meteorology, &c.” The volume opens with a portrait and biography of
Andrew J. Downing, “the most eminent of American horticulturists and professors of Rural Architecture” (p. 5). Much interesting material is present here on the cultivation of various fruits and vegetables, the introduction of exotic domesticated animals (Chinese yaks, cashmere goats, camels) into the United States and Europe, statistics of American production, and various mechanical and technical innovations.
Illustrated with four color plates done by Max and Louis N. Rosenthal of the famed Philadelphia firm Rosenthal's, producers of some of the earliest chromolithographs in the U.S. The frontispiece here, after a drawing by B.L.C. Wailes, depicts a blossoming cotton plant, while the three other chromolithographed plates show a more mature example, the cotton caterpillar, and rot in cotton. The volume is additionally illustrated with a number of in-text steel and wood engravings.
Allibone 2641. Not in Reese, Stamped with a National Character. Publisher's blind-stamped green cloth, spine with gilt-stamped title; spine sunned, chipped at head, and with small darkened area. Ex–social club library: Call number on front pastedown, front free endpaper lacking, title-page and several others (not plates) with old, round, light rubber-stamp. Pages age-toned, otherwise clean. (26420)

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