“Essential Reading”
The Carpenter and Joiner’s Assistant; containing Practical Rules for making all Kinds of Joints, and Various Methods of Hingeing them together; for Hanging of Doors on Straight or Circular Plans; for fitting up Windows and Shutters to answer various Purposes, with Rules for Hanging Them: for the Construction of Floors, Partitions, Soffits, Groins, Arches for Masonry; for constructing Roofs in the best Manner from a given Quantity of Timber: for placing of Bond Timbers, with various Methods for adjusting Raking Pediments, enlarging and diminishing of Mouldings; taking Dimensions for Joinery, and for setting out Shop Fronts. With a new scheme for constructing stairs and hand-rails, and for Stairs having a Conical Well-Hole, &c. &c. To Which are Added, Examples of Various Roofs Executed, with the Scantlings, From Actual Measurements. With Rules for Mortices and Tenons, and for fixing Iron Straps, &c. Also Extracts from M. Belidor, M. du Hamel, M. de Buffon, &c. on the Strength of Timber, with Practical Observations.
79 engraved plates. xi, 79, [1] pp. Large 4to, cont. sheep, flat spine gilt. London: I. & J. Taylor, 1797.
First edition and a nice copy from Schloss Tetschner, with the private library’s attractive stamp on verso of title. Nicholson (1765-1844), architectural writer and mathematician, “was probably the most prolific communicator on the technical aspects of architecture in the first half of the nineteenth century and his influence should not be underestimated. He wrote at least twenty-seven books and two collaborations, which all went into many reprints and which were still being republished and updated by others well after his death…Furthermore his was one of the leading intellects concerning technical architectural matters and remains to this day essential reading on the period.”–ODNB.
The magnificent Tetschner library was purchased in 1934 by H.P. Kraus in Prague.
Bound-in at the end is a four-page folio Taylor catalogue of publications, which does not seem to appear in ESTC.
Price: $1,750.00
Item ID: 6875
