Five Rare Books for Collectors: House and Home

Engraved pattern book of cast brass furniture fittings and other hardware

Highlights from James Cummins Bookseller's latest catalogue There's No Place Like Home including:

* Engraved pattern book of cast brass furniture fittings and other hardware

Harcourt, R., & Sons. Birmingham: [n.d., ca. 1820-1830]. 163 engraved plates. Rare engraved early 19th century brassfounder's trade catalogue with the manufacturer's name given (usually not noted in such a work). While the actual catalogue appears to be ca. 1820-1830, some of the actual copper plates would appear to have been engraved somewhat earlier, ca. 1800-1810

* Collection of 26 Volumes on Decorative arts including: Les Maitres Ebenistes français au XVIIIe siècle; Three Centuries of Furniture in Color by H.D. Molesworth And John Kenworthy-Browne; English Decoration in the XVIII Century; French Cabinetmakers in the Eighteenth Century; etc.

From the Library of Charles Edison, specially bound for him uniformly in purple morocco with "Governor Charles Edison Library" on the front pastedown, t.e.g., by Bookends Bindery.

Collection of 26 Volumes on Decorative arts

The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide; Or, Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household Furniture

Rudiments of Drawing Cabinets and Upholstery Furniture

Houses

* The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide; Or, Repository of Designs for Every Article of Household Furniture

[Hepplewhite, George]; A. Hepplewhite and Co., Cabinet-Makers. London: I. and J. Taylor, 1789. With 127 copper-engraved plates after George Hepplewhite. Second edition, published a year after the first, with slight revisions and one additional plate. With Chippendale and Sheraton, one of the three great pattern books of the 18th century. The preface adopts a modest tone: "To unite elegance and utility, and blend the useful with the agreeable, has ever been considered a difficult but an honourable task."

* Rudiments of Drawing Cabinets and Upholstery Furniture. Illustrated by appropriate diagrams

Brown, Richard, London: Printed and sold by the author, 1820. First edition. With 25 plates, most handcolored. Printed by J. Harrison, Strand. Quarter red morocco and green marbled boards.

* Houses

Despont, Thierry W, New York: The Office of Thierry W. Despont Ltd, 1990. Private edition, unnumbered copy of a run of 1000. Black publisher's cloth with gold text on spine and front cover. Original dust jacket. This private edition of photographs of the work of architect Thierry W. Despont was published privately in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Office of Thierry W. Despont in 1990.