Monmouth
House Books
Llanfapley, Abergavenny, Wales NP7 8SN
 
 |
Designed for
and
By Elitenovel Ltd
www.elitenovel.co.uk
Book Reviews from ASCHB Journal
Langley, B & T Gothic Architecture Improved by Rules and Proportions In many grand Designs of Columns, Doors, Windows, Chimney-Pieces, Arcades, Colonades, Porticos, Umbrellos, Temples, and Pavillions &c. (1747). Facsimile reprint by Monmouth House Books, Llanfapley. (Tel:01600 780236) Small folio, ¼cloth/marbled boards, paper label.
Here at last is a bookseller/publisher who understands the reprint market. There have been many examples of reprinted books that miss the mark. They either produce books that are too obscure to warrant a meaningful market, or they are priced so near to the cost of an original copy that they loose their raison d’etre. The Gregg reprints of the 1960s - 70s were the epitome of sensible reprint philosophy, and the now substantial costs of their books in the antiquarian market bear testament to their erudite policy. This book is no doubt destined for the same fate, and will probably be included in the publisher’s own catalogues of architectural rarities.
The book is taken from the second edition, the first being of 1742 (undated) and with a variant of the title thus: Ancient Architecture Improved by a Great Variety of Grand and Useful Designs, entirely new in the Gothick Mode for the ornamenting of Buildings and Gardens. The first edition also included a "Dissertation" with a short description of the plates, that was not reprinted again until a later edition, also undated but c1787, after Batty Langley’s demise. The first edition is now almost unfindable in anything approaching decent or complete condition, and a good second or third edition would cost anything from £300 - £600.
The work is of paramount importance and was Langley’s most celebrated book. It was published in an age of almost universal classicism, and attempted to impose upon the Gothick a system of rules and proportions based on pattern-book Classical formulae. It was immensely popular in its day, and although Langley’s designs were far from scholarly, and without benefit of historic or archaeological knowledge, they have great charm. It is their very naiveté gives them an innate sense of fun (whether intended or not) that is usually lacking from architecture generally. It became a widely used pattern book with examples of the details and little buildings appearing in many guises during the latter half of the 18th century. There was, of course much derision from the later Gothic Revivalists, who were generally a terminally serious bunch. However, there is still much joy to be had from these architectural confections that would serve as useful examples for many additions to suitable properties and estates. Conservatories, summer houses, orangeries and ruins are particularly well suited to this aesthetic.
This book is a small masterpiece of production, and at an extremely modest cost. It is properly case bound in a suitable style, and printed on a laid paper, albeit considerably lighter than the originals that were intended to take an etching press imprint. The book contains no extraneous matter, other than a very discrete and modest colophon on the last page. It even comes with a spare label. Unfortunately, there is nothing to indicate the edition, and there is no bibliographic data. I would also have liked the "Dissertation" to have been included, even if bibliographically incorrect. The plates are rather dark when compared to an authentic copy, and although virtually identical in print they have slightly smaller margins. But as the originals were engraved on copper, they would have been subject to some wear and variation. The initial edition of the reprint has a print run of only 50 copies, (although it has not been formally "limited") and over half of these were sold virtually on the day of publication.
I have to admit some bias as this is one of my "Favourite Books of All Time" and it is a delight to see a usable, accessible and handsome reprint. Richard Sidwell of Monmouth House deserves every commendation and encouragement for showing the world of architectural/historic publishing how it should be done. SL
(N.B. The spelling "errors"
in the book titles are, in this instance, correct copies of the original)
Top
Book Review from ASCHB Newsletter No.106 November 1999
Halfpenny, William Practical Architecture, etc (1736) 5th edition, 48 plates, ¼ cloth/ marbled boards, label, facsimile reprint. £18
Salmon, William The London and Country Builder’s Vade Mecum (1748) 2nd edition, engraved frontis & 187pp text, ¼ cloth/ marbled boards, label, facsimile reprint. £20
Both from Monmouth House Books, Llanfapley 1999
Two more crackers from Richard Sidwell, who has selected another two excellent works for reprint and is now establishing a standard that will demand to be sustained in the future. The Salmon is taken from a good copy of the second edition, and with the thoroughness of a dedicated bookman, Sidwell even gives a reproduction of the original ownership autograph on the first blank. The Vade Mecum is an extremely important aid to research and understanding of the gradual evolution of architectural and construction business as it gradually attained the sophistication demanded by the industrial revolution: such works of course form the incunabula of Quantity Surveying as a separate discipline. The book is in essence a schedule of rates for the various trades, together with tables for reckoning quantities etc. But the explanatory introductions to each section are often most informative and comparative rates of labours give a good picture of those items that could be regarded as luxurious over the more utilitarian. The relative prices also reflect scarcity and demand. The book gives a snapshot of the building industry of the time, long before architects became a ‘profession’.
There is a good deal of the book devoted to carpentry, with nothing relating to iron of steel. Blacksmiths’ work largely covers ironmongery with surprisingly little variation or choice other than for nails, of which there are great variety available at relatively low cost, despite being hand forged. There are sections on brickwork, masonry, plumbing, "plaistering", painting etc etc. The cost of the material is given in London and Colchester the latter presumably as a suitable provincial comparator; together with methods of measurement. This is not specification in any sense but a method of controlling and understanding prices. The main body of the book – over half its content – is taken up with ready reckoner tables for solid and flat measure and for universal calculation. Not of great interest or use other than a curiosity and a reminder of the difficulties that beset the world before the days of calculators.
Hardly an essential reference work, but one of great interest for dipping and skimming and to provide useful atmosphere in any materials research.
The Halfpenny is a very different work. A miniscule 8vo (almost 12mo size) that could be "carried in the Pocket and be always ready for use" consisting of engraved plates that include text. It sets out to provide a simpleton’s guide to the orders, and designs of architectural features. It achieves this by use of tables of proportional sizes and comparisons, set opposite engraved examples of orders, doors, windows, etc. The work was originally published in 1724 and ran through five editions up to 1736. This is a reprint of the last edition. The work joins the many that attempt the same task, although I have always harboured the heretical thought that using tables, proportions and rules to represent the orders, is as useless as using similar methods to draw a tree (or a human being). However, this is a work of great charm and one I have often used for speed of reference. But, the true origin of the orders will always remain a true mystery to me and one I do not want to see solved. Understanding proportion is an innate skill like drawing itself; and certainly it can be reduced to mathematics, but the joy of it then goes. In comparison there were numerous attempts at using formulae to aid the depiction of the human figure that also fail. Other than very approximate checks or guides that we all (my generation) learnt at art school – head goes into body height eight times; spread of hand equals side of face etc. – the rules of intricate proportion are as useful as painting by numbers. The rules of proportion in architecture were similarly subjected to the scrutiny of rationalists who sought order out of chaos. We now know that chaos rules in nature.
Halfpenny’s work makes a good companion to the Salmon. One imagines the same 18th century purchaser buying both. Thus the fledgling architect, surveyor, carpenter, undertaker, mason or builder has both the pragmatic and the artistic guides he needs to practice at the cutting edge of the industry at that time.
Both books are superbly well produced, on heavy weight paper, ¼ cloth over marbled boards with paper labels. An appropriate colophon, but no indication of print-run numbers or issue. The Halfpenny comes from the copy presented by Ernest George with his signature on the title page. Richard Sidwell informs me that very small quantities are printed, but he does not claim any limited edition status. I have no doubt these productions will follow the famed Gregg editions into the pages of antiquarian book dealers catalogues in the future. Both works are difficult to find in the original editions and are costly when found. The Salmon, anything from £200 to £500 and the Halfpenny from £350 to £750. They therefore make ideal material for reprints. Even those who have the originals would do well to purchase these for every day use.
Stephen Levrant
October 1999
Top
Association for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings (ASCHB) Newsletter No. 107 August 2000
Book Review by Stephen Levrant
Francis Price: The British Carpenter: or, a Treatise on Carpentry. Containing the most concise and authentick Rules of that Art, In a more Useful and extensive Method, than has been made Publick. Richard Sidwell’s productions are now becoming a regular feature of this column and one wonders what he will do next. This work is yet again a superb candidate for facsimile. Price published the first edition of this standard work in 1733, and it became the earliest comprehensive work on carpentry in English. There were earlier treatises that included carpentry: Balthazar Gerbier, Moxon, and others, but none to this detail. This is the second, and considered by many, the best edition containing an additional 16 plates. The work contains constructional methodology for roof trusses and floors, much of which would have been familiar to builders of the previous 50 years or so, but with well constructed trigometrical diagrams and calculations. Thus a measure of scientific approach is introduced that was to set the pattern for text books that followed for the next 150 years. Some of the proposed constructions are dubious to say the least, and it was clear that structural mechanics were not truly understood at this time. The work also deals with trussed partitions and bridges, domes, cupolas, spires, vaulting and stairs. The supplement, with its own titles page and engraved half-titles, contains “Palladio’s orders of Architecture with the Ornaments of Doors, Windows &c.”, duly set out with the proportional guides as usual. This was an important work of its time, not just in my opinion but one endorsed by Hawksmoor, John James and James Gibbs – “We think it a very Usefull and Instructive Piece, and …recommend it to everyone concerned in Works of that kind”. Another fine piece of book production, up to the standard we have come to expect from Monmouth House; printed on cream laid paper, bound in marble boards and quarter buckram with gilt margin line, paper label and the usual duplicate bound in. As good copies of the original now fetch £450-£750, an excellent buy, and no doubt a good investment.
Association
for Studies in the Conservation of Historic Buildings (ASCHB)
Newsletter No. 108 November 2000
Book Review by Stephen Levrant
James Gibbs: Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture in a More exact and easy manner than has been heretofore practised, by which all FRACTIONS, in dividing the principal MEMBERS and their Parts, are avoided.
Richard Sidwell appears to be bettering his production each time a new work is published, and this is undoubtedly his chef d'oeuvre to date. This book is, yet again, a superb candidate for facsimile. It was first published in 1732, one of many books of orders and decorative embellishments, but Gibbs improved upon other works by simplifying the entire process to eliminate the use of fractions in the proportional division of the various elements. Palladio's version was the popular standard work prior to this and use of fractions within an imperial measurement system was, of course problematic, especially for the proverbial country builders and amateur architects who were supposed to abound at the time.
The work was a considerable success both in UK and North America and went into the second edition that has been reprinted here. This was originally published in parts, and is usually found with a somewhat chaotic arrangement of plates and text where three plates are bound after each four pages of text, up to plate 28 whence the remaining plates are bound in sequence. Sidwell has here clarified matters in the traditional manner of many architectural plate books by having the plates bound in sequence after the text. The work is intended as an instructive work rather than a straight forward pattern book in the manner of Gibb's earlier "Book of Architecture." There are examples of the application of orders and proportions to facades, arcades, chimney pieces, mouldings and ceilings with decorative embellishments, but no actual examples of built works.
The "Rules" was published as a reprint in 1932 but as a much reduced 8vo, and went into several editions in that format. Christian Barman provided a scholarly, if now dated preface to that edition that would have been worthy of adding, as a curiosity, to the present edition, perhaps with some minor amendments. The 8vo edition is that which is most easily found as a working copy among those who value the work, and it is most refreshing to have at last a full size version, where the beauty of detail on the plates is so clearly available.
Yet again, a fine piece of book production, printed on cream laid paper, bound in marbled paper boards and half buckram with gilt margin lines, paper label and the usual duplicate bound in. It is rare these days for any publisher to issue true folios, and even accepting that reproduction techniques are becoming ever easier, one only has to compare this with other specialist architectural publications to realise it is good value for money. Also, original copies are now becoming so hard to find - fetching £550-£800 - and libraries are not making them available for copying. This is yet another excellent buy, and no doubt a good investment.