Ames, IA: Midwest Plan Service, 1971. Original edition. Color Pictorial Wraps, light blue. Quarto, pp 74. b/w drawings with spot color. The purpose of this handbook is to help people plan or select adequate, comfortable, functional, and satisfying housing for their families. Useful whether you intend to build a new... More about Family Housing Handbook
Chicago, IL: Murdison Company, 1909. First edition. Cloth over Boards. Folio (12"x15.5"), pp. 370, illustrated with b/w photographs of architectural ornaments. Anaglypta is a range of paintable textured wallcoverings made from paper or vinyl. It was the first washable wall covering and appealed to Victorians because of its sanitary properties... More about Anaglypta & Salamander; Anaglypta Retail Pattern Book Price List
Amsterdam: Netherlands Foundation for Fine Arts, Design and Architecture, 1996. First edition. Paperback. Small quarto, pp. about 70, illustrated with color drawings. Text in Dutch and English. Since 1992, the Oeuvre Awards presented by the Netherlands Foundation for Fine Arts, Design and Architecture have expressed public appreciation for artists who... More about John Habraken: Oeuvreprijs (Oeuvre Award) 1996
Minneapolis, MN: The Architects Small House Service Bureau, 1929. First edition. Staplebound Wraps. Quarto, pp 40, b/w photographs and period advertising. This month's issue covers trees, stairways, chimney pots, upholstered furniture, varnish, color, texture, architectural drawings, Dutch Colonials, four house plans, contractors, and questions. A lot of interesting content for... More about The Small House Volume IX No 6, June 1929
Denver, CO: The Architects' Small House Service Bureau, 1922. First edition. Decorated boards with cloth spine. Folio (10 1/2 X 15 1/2), pp. 86 plus 36-page advertising section bound in; illustrated with b/w perspective drawings and house plans. Previous owner signed front end paper. For those who wanted a small... More about How to Plan, Finance and Build Your Home
nd c. 1890. Paper with wooden, hand grain-painted frame. Frame is 16.25" x 12.25" and is hand painted to simulate wood grain. Art is supported with a cardboard backing that shows sign of some water damage in the past, but it has not affected the artwork. This attractive pastoral scene... More about Framed Hat Box Art
New York: Taschen, 2016. First edition. Hardback w/embossed paper covers and Dust Jacket. Folio, pp 416. Gorgeous color images on almost every page. Text in English, French, and German. Together with a traveling exhibition through the Germany and Austria, this volume shows Viennese woodblocks from the turn of the century... More about Art for All: The Colour Woodcut in Vienna around 1900
New York: Grolier Club, 2018. First edition. Cloth over Boards. Quarto, pp. 471, indexed, illustrated with over 1,200 color photographs. This book was published to accompany the exhibition "Playing Soldier" that was on display at the Grolier Club in New York City in the fall of 2018. If you enjoyed... More about Playing Soldier: The Books and Toys that Prepared Children for War, 1871-1918
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1994. First paperback edition. Original Wraps. Quarto, pp. x, 467, bibliography, index, illustrated with b/w photographs and drawings. In this richly illustrated history Cecil Elliott focuses on a neglected aspect of architecture, the technics of building form. Concentrating on developments in Europe and North America from... More about Technics and Architecture; The Development of Materials and Systems for Buildings
New York: Hearst Publications, 1951. Original edition. Staplebound Wraps. Quarto, pp. 22. Indexed. A typewritten compilation of the products that were advertised in Good Housekeeping magazine and covered by the Good Housekeeping Consumer's Guaranty, which provides replacement or refund if not as advertised. Scarce! We've never had a copy of... More about Index of Building Products and Service List Advertised in Good Housekeeping; Effective Date...
Bronx, NY: Great National Millwork & Lumber Corp. 1941. Original edition. Staplebound Wraps. Octavo, 80 pp. Thoroughly illustrated with b/w drawings and photos. A scarce wartime catalog, featuring numerous illustrations of the full line of Great National's building materials, such as doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, stair materials, summer cottages, garages... More about Home Owners Guide & Catalog
Chicago, IL: Home Builders Catalog Co., 1926. First edition. Cloth over Boards, brown, w/Gilt design & lettering. Quarto, pp 1032, indexed. b/w photographs, some colored renderings, floor plans, and illustrations on virtually every page! A "Sweet's" catalogue for the residential builder, with insulation, flues, asbestos shingles, cedar products, elevators, windows... More about Home Builders Catalog 1926, A Reference Work for Building Contractors and Home Owners; Containing...
Chicago: Montgomery Ward & Co., 1928. Original edition. Staplebound Wraps. Oblong Quarto, 48 pp. Thoroughly illustrated with b/w drawings and photos, fabulous front and back illustrations. Order form and envelope laid in. A scarce Montgomery Ward catalog from the 1920s, featuring a beautiful color cover and numerous illustrations of the... More about Building Materials
New York: Sweet's Catalog Service, 1925-25. Twentieth Edition. Original Green Cloth. Octavo, pp. 2855, illustrated. The last year of the single volume edition. Complete Sweet's catalog - an amazing amount of trade literature in one volume. An early example of the definitive building products catalogue from the teens and twenties... More about Sweet's Architectural Catalogue; Twentieth Annual Edition (complete in one volume); A Completely...
Niles, MI: Kawneer Co., 1961. Original edition. Three-ring binder, blue vinyl with yellow lettering. Quarto 3-ring binder, with four tabbed sections (fronts and facings; entrances; wall systems; and Sealair windows), each containing brochures and specification sheets. A very scarce mid-century trade publication depicting specifications, descriptions, and images of Kawneer products... More about Kawneer Reference Hand Book
Chicago, IL: United States Gypsum, 1944-1945. First edition. Staplebound Wraps with Illustrated Covers. Quarto, pp 14 and 22, illustrated with b/w and color drawings and photographs. An outstanding selection of techniques for the use of plaster, laminated millwork, lighting coves and much more. Ideas for remodeling homes and hallways, outdoor... More about Two issues of Popular Home magazine (winter 1944 and spring building preview 1945);...
New York: Excelsior Publishing House, 1897. First edition. Cloth over Boards. Octavo, pp. 885, b/w illustrations. This is a title we haven't had before. Chapters on practical carpentry, painting, furniture and cabinet finishing, horse shoeing, diseases of the horses foot, soap making and washing fluids, candy making, baking, taxidermy, tanning... More about The Home Mechanic and Complete Self-Instructor in Carpentry, Painting, Horse-Shoeing, Soap...
Cleveland, OH: American Steel & Wire Company, 1939. Original edition. Spiral Bound Wraps. 16mo, pp. 128, indexed, illustrated with b/w drawings. This company made nails for all purposes: basket, barrel, hinge, roofing, fence, clinch, finishing, and many many more. Includes a manual of carpentry bound in, covering topics such has... More about Catalog of United States Steel American Nails; with specifications and data covering staples,...
Chicago: Frederick J. Drake & Co. for Sears, Roebuck & Co., 1911. Revised. Cloth over Embossed, Decorated Boards. Octavo, pp. 261 (Hodgson's Estimator and Contractor's Guide), 261 (Guide to Correct Measurements) plus rear section of house plans and publishers' ads (not numbered; about 70 pages). Special exclusive edition printed expressly... More about Builders' Reliable Estimator and Contractors' Guide: A Complete Guide for Pricing All Builders'...
Chicago, IL: Simmons-Boardman Publishing, 1944. First edition. Color Pictorial Wraps, green. Quarto, pp. 130, illustrated with b/w drawings, photographs and spot color. Touted as "The World's Greatest Building Paper," this magazine was avidly read by those in the construction and building material trades. Topics in this issue discussed war construction... More about American Builder and Building Age, June 1944
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Press, 1980. Fifth edition. Glossy Pictorial Wraps. Quarto, pp. 366. Indexed, bibliography, illustrated with numerous b/w photos and drawings. Designed as a practical road map of home repairs, this helpful guide shows you how to recover and preserve the spirit of an old dwelling while... More about Old Houses; A Rebuilder's Manual
London: Thomas Kelly, 1847. First edition. Decorated Boards. Once a pretty grand binding, the spine elaborately gilt with the original owner's name: H. W. Gollop 1849. Quarto, pp. viii, 180, with over 45 full page plates and b/w illustrations. Bound with "The Practical Builder's Perpetual Price-Book; Elucidating the Principles of... More about Practical Masonry, Bricklaying, and Plastering; both plain and ornamental; containing a new and...
Scranton, PA: International Textbook Co., 1923. First edition. Half-Leather. Octavo, pp. vi, 392, vii, index, b/w illustrations of electrical components and installation, beam and column sections, construction details, joints, trusses, etc. As with all of the ICS trades-related titles, good solid professional text, well illustrated and aimed at the tradesman... More about ICS #11E, International Library of Technology: Geometry and Mensuration, Electric Wiring and...
Scranton, PA: International Textbook Co., 1909. Original edition. Cloth over Boards. Octavo, pp. approx. 600, indexed, richly illustrated w/ b/w drawings and engravings, fold-out plans and b/w photographs. Unusually pristine copy! As with all of the ICS trades-related titles, good solid professional text, well illustrated and aimed at the tradesman... More about ICS #177 International Library of Technology: Fireproofing of Buildings, Stair Building,...
New York: W. J. Pell, 1888. Original edition. Staplebound Wraps. 12mo, pp 64. Illustrated with b/w engravings and house plans. The object of this little book is to give to builders a few practical hints that can be used in their endeavors to erect a home that is proposed to... More about Practical Hints to Builders and Those Contemplating Building; Facts Worth Considering relating to...
