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.

  1. FARINGTON, Susan Maria (illustrator). 

    The 104th Psalm.  Illustrated by Susan Maria Ffarington.  Worden. 

    London,  Vincent Brooks Day & Son, [c. 1867]. 

    The Faringtons or Ffaringtons were an ancient family of Worden Hall, Leyland, Lancashire, with a substantial family archive.  Susan Maria (1808–1894) edited The Farington Papers for the Chetham Society in 1856, and made other contributions to local history, but this unusual panorama seems to have...

    £650

  2. [LOO, Pieter van, (attributed).] 

    156 watercolours of flowers, plants, and fruits. 

    [Holland, c. 1760–80]. 

    A truly stunning collection of over 150 original eighteenth-century botanical watercolours, attributed to the noted Dutch botanical artist Pieter van Loo (1731–1784). 

    £110000

  3. [COSTUME.]

    6 Blätter Altenburger Trachten.

    Altenburg, Schnuphase’sche Buchhandlung, [c. 1857].

    Charming Altenburg costume plates, lacking at least one plate.

    £150

  4. [SOUTH AMERICA.]

    Album of sketches made in Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.

    1840s?

    An attractive album of sketches by an anonymous Francophone artist made during a trip to South America.

    £2750

  5. SCHÜBLER, Johann Jakob.

    Amor, vehementer quidem flagrans; artificiose tamen celatus, de Pantalonis custodiaque triumphans, intentato...

    Augsburg, Johann Michael Probst, [c. 1770?].

    Rare series of twelve engravings inspired by the Italian commedia dell’arte, one of the most beautiful books of the German Rococo, engraved by Johann Balthasar Probst after original illustrations by the architectural painter, sculptor, and mathematician Johann Jakob Schübler.

    £7500

  6. DASSIER, Jean and Jacques-Antoine.

    ‘An Explanation of Dassier’s Medals being a Representation of a Series of Events...

    London, c. 1795-1800.

    An exceptionally fine illustrated manuscript, with drawings after the series of sixty medals of Roman history from Romulus to the Age of Augustus produced by Jean Dassier and his son in 1740-1743. The drawings are executed with considerable finesse, adding detailed elements not clearly visible...

    £7500

  7. MICHETTI, Charles.

    Catalogue des estampes des plus grands maitres, tableaux, bagues, livres, vases, idoles, &. qui composent la...

    Vienna, 1790.

    First edition. Description of the cabinet assembled by Charles Michetti in Vienna. Michetti stresses in his introduction that his collection was put together not for financial gain but because he liked the look of the pieces and appreciated their artistic merit. The bulk of the collection is made up...

    £350

  8. GARGIULO, Raffaele.

    Cenni sulla maniera di rinvenire i vasi fittili Italo-Greci. Sulla loro costruzione, sulle loro fabbriche più...

    Naples, Tipografia Virgilio, 1843.

    Second, revised and enlarged edition (first 1831), illustrated with sixteen handsome engraved plates.

    £275

  9. VIAS, Balthasar de.

    In clarissimum virum Nicolaum Claudium Fabricium de Peiresc ... Epicedion.

    Marseille, Claude Garcin, 1642.

    Uncommon first edition of Balthasar de Vias’s elegant neo-Latin elegy commemorating the life of his friend the scholar, antiquary, and collector Nicolas Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580–1637) of Aix-en-Provence, the most learned man of his time; our copy contains the extremely rare ‘Encomiasticon’...

    £3250

  10. [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

  11. ROLAS DU ROSEY, Carl.

    Die Kupferstiche, Handzeichnungen und Kunstbibliothek ... deren erste Hälfte Montag, den 13. Juni 1864 [-...

    Leipzig, Rudolf Weigel, 1864.

    Sale catalogue of the print and drawing collection assembled by the Prussian general Baron Rolas du Rosey (d. 1862). In all 7160 lots were sold. The prices achieved were moderate.

    £250

  12. REZZONICO, Carlo Castone della Torre di.

    Discorsi accademici del conte … segretario perpetuo della R. Accademia delle Belle Arti. 

    Parma, [Bodoni], 1772.

    First and only edition of an exquisite little product of the Bodoni house: Count Rezzonico’s reflections on the fine arts, including a dissertation on the techniques of woodcut and engraving.  The Neo-Classical aesthetics that inform this work are reflected in the illustrations, masterfully executed...

    £700

  13. [REYNOLDS, Joshua, Sir].

    A Discourse, delivered at the Opening of the Royal Academy, January 2, 1769 [also: October 16,...

    London: Printed in the Year 1769.

    First editions of seven discourses addressed by Reynolds to the newly founded Royal Academy, of which he was the first President.

    £950

  14. [SALON DE 1850.]

    Explication des ouvrages de peinture, sculpture, architecture, gravure et lithographie des artists vivants exposés...

    Paris, 1850.

    Catalogue for the Salon of 1850, the exhibition of contemporary French artists in Paris. The submissions of architectural drawings get the most detailed treatment although the first medal in the architecture section was not awarded.

    £75

  15. HELMAN, Isidore-Stanislas-Henri.

    Faits mémorables des empereurs de la Chine, tirés des annales Chinoises, dédiés à Madame,...

    Paris, chez l’auteur … et chez M. Ponce, [1788].

    Two handsome engraved works by the French engraver and printseller Helman (1743–1806/9), here on uncut sheets, the first depicting scenes from Chinese history, the second episodes in the life of Confucius (Kong Fuzi).

    £6000

  16. FIORILLO, Johann Dominicus.

    Geschichte der zeichnenden Künste, von ihrer Wiederauflebung bis auf die neusten Zeiten ...

    Göttingen, bei Johann Georg Rosenbusch, 1798 [and Johann Friederich Rower], 1801-1805.

    First edition. Fiorillo began as a painter, studying in Rome and Bologna, but turned to art history and became a professor at the University of Gottingen and colleague of Lichtenberg, in 1781. His erudite survey of the art of painting throughout Europe was among the first to make use of medieval documentary...

    £600

  17. LA SERRE, Jean-Puget de.

    Grab-Statt der weltlichen Ergötzlichkeiten, einstens in Französischer Sprache zubereitet … anjetzt...

    Regensburg, Johann Conrad Peetz und Bader, 1738.

    First edition in German of Tombeau des délices du monde, by the French dramatist and historian Jean-Puget de la Serre (1594–1665).

    £375