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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[BIBLE.]
Biblia sacra vulgatae editionis … [with:] Novum Jesu Christi Testamentum, vulgatae editionis, Sixti V pont. max. jussu...
Paris, Jacques Vincent, 1741/1740.
An attractively bound copy of the Old and New Testament in the Vulgate version, issued by the noted Parisian printer Jacques Vincent (1671–1760).
£975
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BLANQUI, Jérôme Adolphe, l’Ainé.
Histoire de l’économie politique en Europe, depuis les anciens jusqu’à nos jours, suivie...
Paris, Guillaumin, 1837.
First edition of ‘the first major history of political economy’ (The New Palgrave). Blanqui (1798–1854) taught at the Institution Massin, where he came into contact with J. B. Say, who was greatly impressed by him. In 1833, he succeeded Say as holder of the chair of political and industrial economy...
£125
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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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BOLZANI, A. M.
Wegweiser zum Seidenbau für Nord-Deutschland und insbesondere für Preussen.
Berlin, Vereinsbuchhandlung, 1831.
First edition. Bolzani, originally from Como in Italy, was a picture- and print-dealer in Berlin who also ran a successful silkworm cultivation enterprise. His book deals with all aspects of sericulture. Bolzani was especially keen to have Prussian state funding for silkworm cultivation and corresponded...
£275
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BORBONI, Domenico.
Architectura Dominici Borbonii celeberrimi architecti, et pictoris Bononiensis.
[Bassano,] ‘ex typographio Remondiniano Veneto’, [c. 1670?].
Only known edition of this very rare collection of superb architectural plates by the Bolognese architect and painter Domenico Borboni, published by Giovanni Antonio Remondini, our copy used as a draughtsman’s pattern book.
£3750
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BRADLEY Gertrude M., illustrator.
An archive of drawings for Just Forty Winks.
[c. 1897].
Fifty-eight delightful preliminary pencil sketches by the illustrator Gertrude M. Bradley for Just Forty Winks, Hendry’s tale for children, offered with a copy of the first and only edition, rare in the dustjacket.
£850
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[BRISTOL.]
The Bristol Contest, being a Collection of all the Papers published by both Parties, on the Election, 1754.
Bristol, ‘sold by the Printing-Office … and by J. Palmer’, [1754].
Extremely rare first edition of this Bristol-printed political pamphlet, bound with the first edition of a French work on pyrotechnics used both for spectacle and for war.
£650
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[BRITISH LIBRARY.]
The Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue.
[London,] British Library, 1983.
First and only microfiche edition of ESTC, subsequently expanded into the English Short-Title Catalogue and made obsolete by digitisation.
£175
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BURY, Stephen.
Artists’ books: the book as a work of art, 1963-2000.
London, Bernard Quaritch Ltd, 2015.
The history of artists’ involvement with the book format between 1963 and 2000 includes a fascinating range of artists and movements from Mallarmé to the Piece of Paper Press via Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Fluxus and conceptual art. This second edition includes updated text with new bibliographic descriptions...
£60
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BUSTEED, Henry Elmsley.
The Serampore Portrait. Is it Madam Grand?
Calcutta, Thacker, Spink, & co., 1903.
First edition of a study probing the identity of a portrait then displayed at the Library of the Baptist Mission College at Serampore, India. The portrait in question, attributed to the German neo-classical painter Johann Zoffany who was frequently patronised by British royalty and who had a...
£125
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CAPPONI, Alessandro Gregorio, Marchese.
Catalogo della Libreria Capponi o sia de’ Libri Italiani del su Marchese Alessandro...
Rome, Bernabò & Lazzarini, 1747
First and only edition of the catalogue of this remarkable library assembled by Capponi (1683–1746) and containing over five thousand titles, mainly of early Italian literature. The catalogue was compiled by Alessandro Berti with bio-bibliographical notes by Domenico Giorgi. The collection now...
£900
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CAPRA, Alessandro.
Geometria famigliare, et instruttione pratica d’Alessandro Capra architetto cremonese. Per gl’edificii nuovi,...
Cremona, Gio[vanni] Pietro Zanni, 1671.
An exceedingly rare extract from the first edition of the treatise of practical geometry by the architect and inventor Alessandro Capra (c. 1605–c. 1685), seemingly prepared and sold as a manual for surveyors and early estate agents.
£575
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CARDONNEL, Adam de.
Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland [I–II] …
London: Printed for the Author, and sold by Edwards … also by Edwards’s, in Halifax. 1788.
First edition, the very rare issue with the plates in sepia, printed directly onto thick wove paper.
£975
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CARTARI, Vincenzo.
Le imagini con la spositione de i dei de gli antichi.
Venice, per Francesco Marcolini, 1556.
First edition of Cartari’s influential and successful treatise on the mythology of the ancients. Cartari concentrated on the iconography of the gods, explaining their guises and detailing their several attributes. His book was expressively written to aid artists, painters, and sculptors to...
£800
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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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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