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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CARTER, John, and Graham POLLARD.
The Firm of Charles Ottley, Landon & Co.: Footnote to An Enquiry.
London, Rupert Hart-Davis, and New York, Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1948.
First edition of Carter and Pollard’s further research into the forgeries of Thomas J. Wise. The authors examine pamphlets of Swinburne’s poetry published under the imprint of ‘Charles Ottley, Landon & Co’ and expose them as the work of the book-collector and forger Thomas James Wise (1859–1937)....
£12
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CASAL, Ugo Alfonso.
A small archive of letters, photographs, and typescript material on his collection of Japanese lacquers.
[Japan and California, 1930–1955.]
A fascinating archive relating to the extensive Japanese lacquer collection of the Swiss–Japanese banker Ugo Alfonso Casal, including photographs, a 5370-item inventory of his collection, and several lectures on the history and production techniques of Japanese lacquerware.
£975
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CASSANDRE, A.M.
Dubonnet.
Copenhagen, Axel Andreasen & Sønner, c., 1956.
A fine example of Cassandre’s now iconic publicity image for the wine-based aperitif Dubonnet, originally invented in 1846 in response to a government competition for delivering a palatable anti-malarial dose of quinine to French foreign legionaries serving in North Africa.
£750
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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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CHALMERS, David.
Histoire abbregee de tous les roys de France, Angleterre et Escosse, mise en ordre par forme d’Harmonie: contenant...
Paris, Jean Fevrier, 1579.
First edition of Chalmer’s historical work focusing on Scotland’s relations with France and England, written at a time of marriage negotiations between England and France, seeking to dispel the idea that England had any overlordship over Scotland.
£950
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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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[CHRISTIE’S – FOUNTAINE.]
Catalogue of the celebrated Fountaine Collection of Majolica, Henri II. Ware, Palissy Ware, Nevers...
London, [William Clowes & Sons for] Christie, Manson, & Woods, 16 June 1884.
An early photographically illustrated auction catalogue, partially priced, for the sale of the Fountaine collection of ceramics, enamels, and relief works.
£650
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[COLOGNE.]
Hôtel de Belle Vue à Deutz vis-à-vis de Cologne, tenu pour J. A. Kimmel.
[Cologne, c. 1880.]
An ambitious lithographic advertisement for the Hotel de Belle Vue in Deutz, facing Cologne over the Rhine, with a ‘Rhein-Panorama’ printed on the verso.
£250
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[COLUMBUS.] QUARITCH, Bernard, and Michael KERNEY.
The Spanish Letter of Columbus … A facsimile of the original edition...
[London,] Quaritch, 2006.
Over the centuries, booksellers have contributed much to the elucidation and sometimes to the falsification of historical documents. The story of the first printed account of the New World, usually known as Christopher Columbus’s Letter to Santángel or simply the Columbus Letter, illustrates...
£60
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COMBE, George.
Phrenology applied to Painting and Sculpture.
London, Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., 1855.
First edition, scarce in commerce. George Combe (1788–1858) was a Scottish lawyer and a leading exponent of phrenology, co-founding in 1820 the Edinburgh Phrenological Society. This is an art historical retrospective using phrenology as the basis for an understanding of beauty and artistic ability,...
£350
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COX, John Roalfe.
Horses in Accident and Disease: Notes and Sketches.
Edinburgh, George Waterston & Sons for David Douglas, 1892.
First edition of an elegantly illustrated veterinary work. An early advocate of the use of chloroform anaesthetic when operating on horses, J. Roalfe Cox here offers tender line drawings and brief descriptions of twenty-eight equine ailments.
£70
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[CRIMEAN WAR.]
Les militaires chrétiens a la guerre d’orient. Récompenses annuelles.
Versailles, Beau jeune, [1856].
First and only edition, rare, of this unusual cartonnage giftbook history of the Crimean War.
£375
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CROOKES, William, Sir.
Autograph letter, signed, to Sir John Evans.
London, 7 Kensington Park Gardens, 26 May 1892.
The scientist Sir William Crookes writes to congratulate the archaeologist and geologist John Evans on his imminent knighthood: ‘I must take this opportunity – the last perhaps in which I can call you “Mr” – to offer you my sincere congratulations on the honour which I see is to be conferred...
£250
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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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DIODORUS Siculus.
Bibliothecae historicae libri XV. Hoc est, quotquot Graece extant de quadraginta quorum quinque nunc primum Latine...
Basel, Heinrich Petri, August 1559.
Important edition, the first to be overseen by Sébastien Castellion, of Diodorus’s influential ‘Historical library’.
£2500
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DIONYSIUS of Halicarnassus.
Antiquitatum Rom. libri XI. Ab Aemylio Porto recens & post aliorum interpretationes Latine redditi.
Geneva, Jacob Stoer, 1614.
A rare pocket-sized edition of Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the early history of Rome, in an armorial binding for Adrien Poërier.
£450
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DODGSON, Campbell (editor).
Woodcuts of the XV Century in the Department of Prints and Drawings, British Museum.
London, British Museum, 1934 [– 1935].
First edition, scarce, of Dodgson’s authoritative and thoroughly illustrated catalogue of fifteenth-century woodcuts in the British Museum. Published after two decades as Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, the monumental Woodcuts of the XV Century is considerably scarcer...
£750
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DONI, Antonio Francesco.
Disegno … partito in piu ragionamenti, ne quali si tratta della scoltura e pittura; de colori, de getti,...
Venice, Gabriel Giolito de’ Ferrari, 1549.
First edition of an important art-theoretical text by the polyglot scholar Anton Francesco Doni (1513–1574) on the Renaissance concept of disegno in contemporary sculpture and painting, a notable source text for scholars of Michelangelo and his lifelong rival, Baccio Bandinelli.
£1250
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[DOVES PRESS.]
Pervigilium Veneris.
Hammersmith, ‘printed by T.J. Cobden-Sanderson at the Doves Press,’ 1910.
One of 150 copies on paper of the elusive Pervigilium Veneris, a celebration of the spring festival of Venus Genetrix, here in the original Doves Bindery vellum, ‘a triumph of simplicity and restraint’ (Tidcombe).
£950
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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