SWAN, Abraham (active 1745-1768). The British Architect: or, the Builders Treasury of Stair-cases . Philadelphia: R.Bell for John Norman 1775.
SWAN, Abraham (active 1745-1768). The British Architect: or, the Builders Treasury of Stair-cases . Philadelphia: R.Bell for John Norman 1775. 2° (405 x 251 mm). 2 prospectus leaves, 4pp. “Names of the Encouragers”, 60 engraved plates (5 printed on leaves with letterpress explanatory text). 4pp. contemporary manuscript architectural drawings and plans laid in (labeled “The John Barch Plan”). (Some overall browning, staining, or offsetting, a few marginal tears, occasionally just crossing the image or plate mark or with small loss to the margin, small marginal wormhole affecting a few leaves.) Contemporary calf (rebacked). Provenance : John Hall (early ownership signature on flyleaf); Lester Hoadley Sellers (1901-1971) Philadelphia architect, member of the American Institute of Architects (bookplate on pastedown); James Grote Vanderpoole (signature on pastedown). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. THE FIRST BOOK ON ARCHITECTURE TO BE PRINTED IN AMERICA , containing both proposal leaves “for printing by subscription”: for John Norman and John Folwell’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Assistant , dated June 20th 1775; and for Abraham Swan’s A Collection of Designs in Architecture , dated June 26th 1775. Ultimately, because of the war, Norman and Folwell’s work was never published. Norman, an Englishman, first arrived in Philadelphia in 1774; soon thereafter, and in the same year, he submitted a proposal to publish the present work. Published in Philadelphia in 1775, the work was “a handsome reprint of Abraham Swan’s The British Architect , first published in London in 1745…Its designs are for public buildings or dwelling houses conceived in the grand manner” ( Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society ). The title-page identifies Abraham Swan as an architect, though he had been called a carpenter in the first edition of 1745. In 1780, Norman moved to Boston and continued publishing and engraving architectural works, including The Town and Country Builder’s Assistant , the first architectural work compiled in America (see lot 25). RARE : according to American Book Prices Current , only one copy of this work has appeared at auction in the last 35 years: New England Book Auctions, 10 October 2006, lot 202. Fowler 341; Evans 42944/B4124; see Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , "The Colonial Scene-1602-1800", April 1950, Volume 60, Part 1.
SWAN, Abraham (active 1745-1768). The British Architect: or, the Builders Treasury of Stair-cases . Philadelphia: R.Bell for John Norman 1775.
SWAN, Abraham (active 1745-1768). The British Architect: or, the Builders Treasury of Stair-cases . Philadelphia: R.Bell for John Norman 1775. 2° (405 x 251 mm). 2 prospectus leaves, 4pp. “Names of the Encouragers”, 60 engraved plates (5 printed on leaves with letterpress explanatory text). 4pp. contemporary manuscript architectural drawings and plans laid in (labeled “The John Barch Plan”). (Some overall browning, staining, or offsetting, a few marginal tears, occasionally just crossing the image or plate mark or with small loss to the margin, small marginal wormhole affecting a few leaves.) Contemporary calf (rebacked). Provenance : John Hall (early ownership signature on flyleaf); Lester Hoadley Sellers (1901-1971) Philadelphia architect, member of the American Institute of Architects (bookplate on pastedown); James Grote Vanderpoole (signature on pastedown). FIRST AMERICAN EDITION. THE FIRST BOOK ON ARCHITECTURE TO BE PRINTED IN AMERICA , containing both proposal leaves “for printing by subscription”: for John Norman and John Folwell’s The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Assistant , dated June 20th 1775; and for Abraham Swan’s A Collection of Designs in Architecture , dated June 26th 1775. Ultimately, because of the war, Norman and Folwell’s work was never published. Norman, an Englishman, first arrived in Philadelphia in 1774; soon thereafter, and in the same year, he submitted a proposal to publish the present work. Published in Philadelphia in 1775, the work was “a handsome reprint of Abraham Swan’s The British Architect , first published in London in 1745…Its designs are for public buildings or dwelling houses conceived in the grand manner” ( Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society ). The title-page identifies Abraham Swan as an architect, though he had been called a carpenter in the first edition of 1745. In 1780, Norman moved to Boston and continued publishing and engraving architectural works, including The Town and Country Builder’s Assistant , the first architectural work compiled in America (see lot 25). RARE : according to American Book Prices Current , only one copy of this work has appeared at auction in the last 35 years: New England Book Auctions, 10 October 2006, lot 202. Fowler 341; Evans 42944/B4124; see Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society , "The Colonial Scene-1602-1800", April 1950, Volume 60, Part 1.
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
