rare profusely illustrated 19th century bicknell architectural building folios added to bldg. 51 musuem archive

new york, a.j. bicknell & co., architectural book publishers, 1873

full sub-title (set in a dazzling array of different typefaces)!

“showing a great variety of designs for cornices, brackets, windows, window caps, doors, piazzas, porches, bay and dormer windows, observatories, towers, chimney tops, balconies, canopies, scrolls, gable and sawed ornaments, fences, stairs, newels, architraves, mantels, plaster finish, etc., etc. including 45 perspectives, elevations, and plans of modern designs for cottages with details and 18 elevations of summer houses, villas, sea-side cottages and country houses. together with 14 designs for street and store fronts, with inside finish for stores and banks: also framing for dwellings, barns, exhibition buildings, roofs, bridges, etc., etc. making in all a practical book for architects, builders, carpenters, and all who contemplate building or remodeling wood, stone or brick buildings.”

first edition. hardcover. folio, 11″ x 14″. original decorated rust red cloth with embossed black titles, decorative gilt spine titles; matte brown endpapers; matching rust red page edges. litho frontispiece opposite the impressively detailed title page. followed by 75 numbered lithographic plates (most with multiple images), several of which are are tinted a lovely pale corn yellow. included, as specified on the title page, are the 45 perspectives, elevations and plans of modern designs, 18 elevations of summer houses, villas, sea-side cottages and country houses, 14 designs for street and store fronts, with inside finish for stores and banks; 4 pages of adverts at the back, 2 for other architectural bicknell publications and 2 that include a color lithograph with examples of minton encaustic floor tiles.


bicknell’s store and bank fronts in new york, 1878

bicknell, a.j. bicknell’s street, store and bank fronts. new york: a.j. bicknell, 1878. quarto, original green cloth.

first edition, with 23 lithographed plates of architectural drawings and designs for building facades in new york.

contains plates 67-89 of bicknell’s larger series of architectural designs, as issued.

minor discoloration to rear board, a few rubs to original cloth. plates fine and intact.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2022. 



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