Magnificent survey of some of the most breathtakingly beautiful architecture ever realized in the U.S., a good amount victim of the wrecking ball in the name of "progress". Buildings documented include the former Pennsylvania Station in New York, much of the current Columbia University campus, Madison Square Garden two incarnations ago, the Century Club in New York, the Harvard Club in New York, countless mansions, both city and country, etc. etc. Folio. 51 by 38 cm. One is struck by the range of work conceived by the firm of Stanford White, including neo-classical, Beaux Arts, an assortmen... View More...
4to. 28 by 21.5 cm. 47 pp. Bridge designs, some picturesque, others, Art Deco, using fieldstone or cement, to cover typically streams and smaller rivers, with culverts forming the shell. The bridges depicted will be the kind that are familiar sights nowadays on older parkways and country roads. Small dampstain and other light soiling on cover. Clean within. View More...
N.d., circa late 1940s. Folio, 43 by 33 cm. 59 pp. Missing only one paint strip, of 215. Many color illustrations of house exteriors and interiors, working in the activities of the wholesome American nuclear family ideal of the period, with attractive young parents and their small children. Homes are generally modest but handsome suburban clapboard colonials, with modern, southern plantation and ranch houses also shown. The illustrations are uniformly pleasing, and their interest lies in their sociological content as well. The catalogue is chock-full of explanatory material on all the p... View More...
4to. 23 by 15.5 cm. 16 pp. Most pages with photos of interiors, and center two pages show various parquet patterns. Scarce -- no copies on OCLC. Light wear. View More...
4to. 27.5 by 21 cm. 48 pp. Profusely illustrated, often with partial color -- with photos of the doors colored yellow or brown to provide a semblance of the wood finish. The color also give this catalogue a certain panache. On offer are various door systems that cleverly housed, and sometimes concealed, lavoratories, wardrobes, telephone booths. From a time when built-in closets were far less common in homes, and when they existed, were smaller, more spare, less elaborate, than the closet systems on offer here, which can be regarded as precursors of today's walk-in and/or complex closet s... View More...
4to. 27 by 20.5 cm. 48 pp. Scarce Canadian publication, with only institutional copy evidenced on OCLC First Search at York University Library. (There are a few listings of earlier versions of this, all in Canada, all shorter in length, and clearly different in other ways.) View More...
Depicting all the facades of a rather long building of Classical design, with five separate profiles, including two with cut-aways revealing the interior. 12 panels attached together. Closed, 31 by 21 cm. Opening to be 252 cm wide. Minor separation where separate cards are joined. A few light stains. View More...
Oblong, 22.5 by 30.5 cm. xviii, [4], 118, [2] pp. With six color plates of paintings of park-like gardens, stunning villas and bucolic settings. Several pages are devoted to each of the country houses discussed, with multiple illustrations of the house and gardens, house plans and garden lay-outs, and detail renderings of benches, pavillions, trellises and other highlights of the gardens. Perhaps most unusual is that costs for creating the gardens are set forth. The book was organized around a competition; the properties shown are the winning entries, with the top entry receiving a prize... View More...
N.d., circa 1920. Oblong, 21.5 by 28 cm. Unpaginated, 14 ff printed on rectos only. Two leaves of text, 12 leaves of color plates. Six plates show the exterior of a house each with a different color, and six, an interior, the parlor. Scarce, with no copies found on OCLC. Condition: light wear. View More...
Catalogue for temporary cabins, garages, theaters, including furniture such as folding beds, folding chairs and shelves, and not to be overlooked, portable toilets. 8vo. 23 by 15 cm. 31 pp. Light wear. View More...
N.d., circa 1900. Folio, 37 by 28 cm. 50 plates, many double paged. Striking catalog of all kinds of tin and metal and construction work, including imposing ovens, greenhouses, garden seating, door hardware, fences, banisters, fireplace accessories, etc. etc. Scarce, with a single institutional copy evidenced on OCLC First Search, held by the Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek. View More...
Elephantine folio. 52.5 by 40 cm. 96 pp. Innumerable big splashy colorful illustrations of new home designs, with accompanying floor plans and illustrations of interior features as well. The designs are ones that were pitched primarily to developers, who typically built such houses on spec, often as part of a development, large or small. Many of the houses are now very recognizable and can be found in thousands of suburban communities throughout the U.S. Whatever one's opinion of the vernacular domestic architecture of the day, however, few would dispute that never do the actual examples... View More...
Folio, 36 by 26.5 cm. 38 pp. A brief history of the insurance giant and a celebration of its new beaux arts tower which dominated the Hartford CT skyline when it was completed. With many charming black and white illustrations of the building. Light wear to the cover. Clean and tight. View More...
Unusual architectural trade catalogue, "presented to you by an institution that devotes one entire branch of its plant exclusively to the manufacture of Factory-made Schoolhouses." Schoolhouses on offer are one to four rooms. With photo images of the designs, and also a page detailing "School Specifications". The latter part of the catalogue -- about half, is given over to churches, gyms and community centers, which outwardly are very similar to the schoolhouse models shown. Scarce -- no copies listed on OCLC First Search. Two entries for an unrelated catalogue issued by Togan-Stiles -- t... View More...
Small folio. 32.5 by 24 cm. 69, [1] pp. Color plates, with a pastel-ish palette, on virtually every recto. Four fabric samples. A clean, handsome copy. View More...
N.d., circa 1944. 4to. (To be read oblong, with binding on top.) 27.5 by 21.5 cm. 32 pp. plus wraps. Selling the American dream of suburban living on credit, with a splashy presentation of the practicalities and costs of setting up an imaginary modest but comfortable house. The booklet cleverly uses a cut-out window to show the expenses, total and monthly, with a comparison of conventional financing and through G.E., with big surprise, G.E. credit cheaper every time. As one turns the leaves, another line of the ledger is revealed until the whole spreadsheet is revealed on page 31, with ... View More...
4to. 27 by 17.5 cm. 68 pp. Many large-ish illustrations of late Victorian sinks, tubs and toilets (water closets), as well as of faucets, pipes, etc. but dominated by decorative fixtures, as opposed to the utility items. Scarce. No copies of this catalogue listed on OCLC First Search, and only one catalogue from this company listed, at Winterthur, and this 1889 catalogue would appear to cover different items, with emphasis on earthenware, but probably with overlap. This is also a handsome plumbing catalogue, Condition: cloth cover has moderate wear, with a few rubbed spots and fairly lar... View More...
4to. 29 by 21 cm. 235 pp. With over 60 pages with color illustration (including the inside covers), much of which is full color, with some simply duotone. Albert Pick was established in 1857. It grew to become a highly successful and large full service hotel and restaurant supplies and service company, with the breadth of its goods and services easily evident in this particular catalogue which was directed specifically at what we would today call luncheonette and/or diner restaurants, and thus a subset of the company's considerably more extensive and diverse clientele. In 1926, the compan... View More...
