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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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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BRITISH MUSEUM.
List of Missing English Theological and Devotional Books.
[London, 1940s.]
Mimeographed typescript of books missing after the losses suffered by the British Museum Library during the Second World War. This is one of several lists of books destroyed, produced both as a record and as a tool for acquiring replacement copies – this copy appears to have been used for that...
£275
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BURNE-JONES, Edward.
The Little Holland House Album … with an Introduction & Notes by John Christian.
The Roxburghe Club, 2024
The Little Holland House Album was compiled by Edward Burne-Jones in about 1858-9 for Sophia, Mrs Dalrymple, the youngest of the seven celebrated Pattle sisters who played such an important role in mid-Victorian cultural life. Their centre was Little Holland House in Kensington where another of the...
£75
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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
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[CHINESE ARTS DEALER.] ISKANDRIAN-HUPEDEN, A.
[Cover title:] ‘My Treasure Box’ [Title-page:] ‘Some selected...
Shanghai, Spring 1938.
A charming and insightful trade catalogue compiled by a female Chinese arts dealer, covering porcelains, cast bronzes and irons, stone and wood sculpture, lacquered figures, furniture and screens, pottery and embroidery. The colours and dimensions are often described in the text, and the final...
£1600
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[COCHRAN, Charles B.]
OSTROWSKA, Wanda and Viola G. GARVIN. London’s Glory.
London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1945.
First edition, a poignant collection of paintings of war-torn London by the Polish artist-in-exile Wanda Ostrowska, accompanied by extracts from her own writings and narrative by Viola Garvin.
£75
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[COLOGNE.]
Hotel de Belle Vue à Deutz vis-à-vis de Cologne tenu pour J.A. Kimmel. [
Cologne, c. 1850
A ambitious lithograph advertisement for the Hotel de Belle Vue in Deutz, facing Cologne over the Rhine. The finely engraved view of the hotel shows it with its surrounding park lying on the Rhine which is bustling with barges, there is a bridge crossing the river full of promenading people. The litho...
£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