Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - January - 2006 Issue

Pre-1800 Continental Art & Architecture, Etc., from Charles Wood

Continental books before 1800 from Charles Wood.


By Michael Stillman

From Charles B. Wood Antiquarian Booksellers we have received catalogue 125. It is headed, Architecture, History of Art, Garden Design, Arts, Crafts & Trades, & Related Fields. That describes the subject matter. The subheading is "continental books before 1800." Now we have the time and place for the material. These are early books primarily on the practical or artistic arts. The "continental," naturally, refers to continental Europe, with the greatest number of these titles in the French language, though others such as Italian and German are represented. Charles Wood is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A., and there are undoubtedly many American collectors of such continental material. However, we suspect that this catalogue will also be of great interest to many collectors located an ocean away. Here is just a sampling of a few of the titles Wood is now offering, but you will find much more variety within the catalogue itself.

The best of these books had a much longer shelf life in earlier days. Item 17 is Architecture pratique, qui comprend la construction generale & particuliere des Batiments...by Pierre Bullet. This is a 1774 edition of a work on practical architecture first published in 1691. It was intended to help contractors, architects and other tradesmen with such topics as selecting materials, determining costs, and complying with the Paris building code. It would continue to be republished at least as late as 1826. It is hard to imagine a manual on building from 1870 still being published today, 135 years later, as was the case with Bullet's guide. Priced at $500.

Item 84 is an illustrated catalogue of sculptures published in 1772, all of which were long ago lost to the ravages of time. In fact, not a one survived the following summer. These were ice sculptures, works of art destined to wither to a pool of water when the summer sun returned to Antwerp, Belgium, in 1772. Frankly, I have never understood those who employ such great effort and artistic talent to the construction of ice sculptures and sand castles, preordained to such a short life and complete destruction, but at least these frozen works of art from 1772 were preserved through the illustrations in this book. The artists were the students and teachers of the Antwerp Royal Academy of Drawing, but the book's author was Compte de Robiano. The title is Collection des desseins des figures colossales... $2,500.

Filippo Buonanni wrote the first complete survey of the architecture and decoration of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. With the title Numismata Summorum Pontificum Templi Vaticani fabricam, it recounts the structure's long architectural past. Buonanni used numerous sources to recreate that history, including literature, manuscripts, even medals minted by the Vatican through the centuries. Numerous illustrations are used to depict the basilica. This is a 1700 edition of this book first published in 1696. $4,500.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
  • 19th Century Shop
    Catalogue 198 just published
    19th Century Shop. Darwin and Wallace, first printing of the first paper on natural selection
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Forum Auctions
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    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
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