architecture

This is volume one of a three volume first edition series written and illustrated by Georges-Louis Le Rouge that describe monuments, buildings, and other ‘curiosities’ in and around Paris, Versailles, Marly, Vincennes, and Saint Cloud. They were published in 1771. This volume has 19 exquisite drawings prefacing different chapters. The combined written and visual portrayals provide a wealth of cultural information and help the reader reconstruct the architectural designs of the time.

The Cooper Hewitt Library has a large collection of books on interior design of many countries, eras, and styles. This book discusses the important and influential Art Deco period. It features furnishings, including wallpaper samples, for many different living and working spaces. Extremely bold colors and styles demonstrate great imagination in promoting modern design. August Trueb, German architect and graphic designer, was active in Stuttgart in the 1920s and 1930s.  He was first trained as an architect but later turned to interior decoration, then advertising art.

Published in 1758, this rare work consists of numerous tables providing pricing and manufacturing techniques on a wide range of goods. In the first part, there is extensive information on the production of plate glass and mirrors, including instructions on grinding and polishing glass, re-purposing mirrors, convex and concave mirrors, colored glass, and other similar pursuits. Following these instructions are tables of prices and various measurements. The second part contains explanations of measurement calculations on a variety of goods and hardware.

Sirarpie Der Nersessian (1896-1989) was an Armenian art historian. Born in Istanbul, she fled in 1915 to escape the persecutions that had erupted against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. She lived for a time in Switzerland, then moved to Paris in 1919, where she obtained a graduate degree at the Sorbonne. By the mid-20th century, she was living in Washington D.C., working as a scholar at Dumbarton Oaks. In 1963, she published a book on the Freer Gallery of Art’s Armenian Gospel manuscript folios.

This is a rare 1935 portfolio of Art Deco style pochoir printed full-color plates of designs for modern interiors. Among the designers whose work is represented in this portfolio are Francis Jourdain, Pierre Chareau, Georges Djo-Bourgeois, and the author, Henry Delacroix himself. Living rooms, children’s rooms, bedrooms, offices, dining rooms, and libraries are included, along with the room’s furnishings, such as furniture, lighting, and decorative accessories.

This beautifully illustrated and colorful book focuses on the work of the designers and architects who apprenticed with Frank Lloyd Wright at the Taliesin Fellowship in Scottsdale, Arizona from 1937-1950s. There are hundreds of photographs and drawings in this first edition book, many from the apprentices’ own archives and previously unpublished. The author interviewed and traced the careers of many former apprentices, including internationally known architects E.