Art & Architecture
Contact Alex Day or Andrea Mazzocchi
Art & Architecture encompasses a broad sweep of material, from early works concerning architecture and architectural history, and books and manuscripts on the fine arts and aesthetics, antiquities and archaeology, to pattern and design books, and private press books and fine bindings. The department also handles original artwork, artistic archives, posters, and propaganda material.
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BIANCONI, Giovanni Lodovico.
Descrizione dei circhi particolarmente di quello di Caracalla e dei giuochi in essi celebrati opera...
Rome, nella stamperia Pagliarini, 1789.
First edition of this handsome work on the Circus of Maxentius, this copy formerly in the possession of the great French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (1814–1879).
£1600
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CELLINI, Benvenuto.
Vita di Benvenuto Cellini orefice e scultore fiorentino da lui medesimo scritta, nella quale molte curiose...
‘Cologne’ [i.e. Florence], ‘Pietro Martello’ [i.e. Bartolini], [1792].
The counterfeit edition of Benvenuto Cellini’s seminal autobiography, extra-illustrated with two large engravings illustrating his ‘Perseus and Medusa’ and the ‘Hercules and Cacus’ of his rival sculptor Bandinelli.
£675
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CHEESMAN, Thomas.
No. I. Six Heads Drawn and Engraved, by T. Cheesman.
[London,] T. Cheesman, No. 40 Oxford Street; and to be had of J.F. Tomkins, New Bond Street, Published February 10, 1797.
First and only edition, extremely rare, of this complete series of six heads of young women wearing head scarves by ‘one of Bartolozzi’s most outstanding pupils’.
£850
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[LABOURS OF THE MONTHS &c.]
Januarius. Februarius. Merz. April …
Nuremberg, Joh. Andreae Endterische Handlung, [second half of eighteenth century].
A scarce popular print depicting the labours of the months and signs of the zodiac, four continents, the four classical elements, and the four seasons.
£475
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[BENDISCIOLI, Faustino.]
Quadro ossia saggio epilogato del Sistema di liberta’ proclamato dai Francesi.
Milan, Stamperia [dei Patrioti d’Italia] di Strada Nuova, [1799].
An impassioned tract attacking the claims of a new life of liberty promoted in Europe after the French Revolution, very rarely to be found in any of the three editions published in the same year.
£200
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HAMILTON, ‘Eliza’ [Elizabeth].
Translation of the Letters of a Hindoo Rajah; written previous to, and during the Period of...
London, J. Crowder for G. & J. Robinson, 1801.
Second edition of Hamilton’s first separately published work, a pseudo-Oriental satire on British society, in a very well-preserved gilt paper binding imitating calf.
£575
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[ALMANACK.]
Les etrennes a la rose, ou le rosier d’amour.
Paris, Janet, [1804?].
A charming literary almanack, or ‘rosebush of love’, collecting amatory poems using the motif of the rose, here bound in red silk strikingly embroidered in silver and dated with the French Revolutionary year ‘An XII’ (1804).
£2500
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[TAYLOR, John.]
The Column called the Monument, described, erected to perpetuate the dreadful Fire of London in the Year 1666;...
Bryan … for Samuel Arnott, Keeper of the Monument. [1805?]
Third edition (first 1787) of this guidebook to London’s Monument, with an account of the Great Fire of 1666 which it commemorates, authored by the Monument’s first keeper.
£350
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MIDDLETON, Charles.
Designs for Gates and Rails suitable to Parks, Pleasure Grounds, Balconys &c, also some Design for Trellis...
London, Published by J. Taylor, at the Architectural Library …, [c. 1805].
First edition of this charming pattern book of garden designs by Charles Middleton which concentrates on gates, rustic fences and trelliswork. Middleton was a pupil of William Paine, and rather than finding success as a building architect he produced a number of fine architectural pattern books.
£675
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[DRESS HABITS.]
Considerazioni d’una dama ad una sua amica intorno al vestiario odierno.
[S.l.,] Impresso dal Curti del fu Giacomo, 1810.
Extremely rare set of six pious reflections on modern dress habits, ostensibly written by an anonymous lady to her friend.
£350
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[ALMANACK.]
London Almanack for the Year of Christ 1820.
[London,] Printed for the Company of Stationers, [1820].
An extraordinary binding of silver filigree over blue silk on a miniature London Almanack for 1820.
£2750
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KECHT, Johann Sigismund.
Der verbesserte praktische Weinbau in Gärten und vorzüglich auf Weinbergen … dritte, vermehrte, und...
Berlin, [Trowitzsch and Son for] the author, 1823.
Third, expanded edition (first 1813) of J.S. Kecht’s influential treatise describing his innovative methods of pruning grapevines to maximise harvest, first developed in his garden in Berlin and later praised by Goethe.
£450
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DAVY, Sir Humphry.
Autograph letter, signed, to Charles Stuart, 1st Baron Stuart de Rothesay, discussing the unrolling of papyri...
‘23 Grosvenor Street London’, 26 May 1821.
An unpublished letter in which Davy discusses his examination of papyri entrusted to him in Paris by Sir Charles Stuart, then British Ambassador to France.
£750
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[ROUSSEAU, Pierre.]
Considérations sur le théatre de l’opéra. Novembre 1822.
[Paris,] de l’imprimerie de Rignoux, [1822].
Very rare proposal for a new opera house in Paris by the architect Pierre Rousseau (1751–1829), annotated by the author and accompanied by an autograph letter.
£475
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[ALMANACK.]
L’Esprit des chansonniers, extrain [sic?] des meilleurs poëtes.
Paris, Le Fuel, [1826?].
A very rare enamelled metal binding with an enchanting design of birds and squirrels, from the collection of the bookbinder, collector, and bibliographer Léon Gruel.
£2750
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HURTADO, Eugenio, scribe.
[Missal for feast days.]
Madrid, 1827.
An extraordinary and enormous liturgical manuscript with painted and stencilled decorations, in a remarkable binding on wheels for ease of movement
£9500
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TOMS, William.
Thirty-six new original and practical designs for chairs, adapted for the Drawing and Dining Room, Parlour and...
Bath, W. Evans, [c. 1830].
A fine and rare furniture pattern book by William Toms, ‘carver in general’ at Bath.
£650
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[BOLOGNA.]
Delle oggetti di belle arti nel famoso Tempio di S. Paolo in Bologna e delle vicissitudini di esso brevi notizie.
Bologna, ‘nella stamperia di San Tommaso d’Aquino’, 1831.
First edition of this detailed description of the Baroque masterpieces in the church of San Paolo Maggiore (or San Paolo Decollato) in Bologna, among them works by Guercino and Cavedoni.
£275
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RAM RAZ.
Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús … with forty-eight Plates.
London, John William Parker for the Royal Asiatic Society, 1834.
First edition, scarce on the market, of this pioneering and handsomely illustrated essay on Indian architecture by the linguist and lawyer Ram Raz (c. 1790–c. 1833).
£975
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(SCHWERIN) (GLOECKER, A.F.W).
Bibliothek des Vereins für Meklenburgische Geschichte und Alterthumskunde, wie solche am Ende des...
… Erste Fortsetzung 1837 … [until] … Achte Fortsetzung 1844. (Schwerin), 1836-1844.
The Verein für Mecklenburgische Geschichte (‘Association for the history of Mecklenburg’) was founded in 1835. Here we have the catalogue of its library, with over 1500 books, as it grew over the years from its foundation to 1844. This is a fascinating record of local interest books, some published...
£150