Joslin Hall Rare Books

Curious, Unusual, Interesting & Occasionally Useful Books of the 16th-20th Centuries exploring the skills, trades, lives and ways of other times...

 Tuesday, September 7, 2010

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50 matching items

Allan, James W. Metalwork of the Islamic World. The Aron Collection. London Sotheby's Publications: 1986. A beautifully illustrated, scholarly catalog of this distinctive collection, featuring Islamic metalwork from (primarily) Syria, Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Yemen and Afghanistan of the 13th-15th centuries. In addition to the catalog itself, where each of the 44 pieces is fully illustrated and described, there are a number of essays which were suggested by individual pieces in the collection- Islamic Metalwork and the Mediterranean, Muhammad ibn Khutlukh and the History of Early Islamic Incense-Burners, Islamic Metalwork in Medieval Yemen, On Phialae in the Islamic World, and Cairo, Damascus or Venice? Possible Provenances of Mamluk Metalwork. Hardcover. 10"x13", 168 pages, many color, black & white and line illustrations. Pictorial cloth, fine condition.

Inventory #: 32767
Price: $ 250.00       




[Allen / Kaufman Collections] French and English Furniture, Paintings, Old Pewter, Silver, Furs, Tapestries, Oriental Rugs, Property of Mrs. G. Marshall Allen (and) Mrs. L.G. Kaufman... New York Parke-Bernet Galleries: February 18-19th, 1944. Sale 532. Includes antique European pewter as lots 42-95, of which 16 are illustrated. Softcover 6.5"x9.5", 91 pages, 449 lots, b/w illustrations some wear and soil priced.

Inventory #: 4129
Price: $ 20.00       




Armstrong, Walter. Alfred Stevens, A Biographical Study. Paris & London Librairie de l'Art: 1881. Alfred Stevens [1817-75] was an important Victorian designer and artist, whose dramatic Neo-Renaissance figures could be found adorning massive outdoor monuments or cast as brass firedogs. He was employed by H.E. Hoole & Co. to design grates, stoves, fenders and andirons for the Great Exhibition, and also designed for other Sheffield manufactories, producing those types of items, as well as candlesticks. He also designed ceramics, including enameled faience and maiolica, and ceilings, staircases and furniture. Examples of all of these items are illustrated here in fine, large line drawings. The text of this biographical study, although leaning toward being a bit too assured of Steven's genius, provides many interesting details of his life and work. Hardcover. 11"x15.5", 47 pages, 36 line illustrations publisher's pictorial cream cloth covers somewhat soiled, spine head worn.

Inventory #: 30312
Price: $ 175.00       




Bangs, Christopher. The Lear Collection: A Study of Copper-Alloy Socket Candlesticks A.D. 200-1700. Easton Kings Hill Publications: 1995. A difficult subject, handled with care, tact and a suitable amount of precision. In the field of pre-1700 metalwares the ground seems liberally strewn with the corpse-opinions of those who came a generation before, but at least "Bud" Lear is a gracious, thoughtful knight as he wades onto the battlefield. A wonderful, well illustrated survey, and if you do anything with old lighting or metalwares you would be foolish indeed not to own a copy. Hardcover. 8.5"x11.5", 398 pages, color and b&w illustrations. Fine.

Inventory #: 34228
Price: $ 400.00       




[Bowman] Early American Pewter, The Notable Collection Formed by Albert C. Bowman, Springfield, Vermont, Property of Mrs. Alfred C. Bowman, together with Early American Furniture & Decorations. New York American Art Association: February 11-12th, 1938. Sale 4373. Perhaps the first sale of a complete collection of American pewter at auction. The catalog entries are correlated with Kerfoot's illustrations. Also includes some nice Colonial and Federal furniture. Softcover. 6"x9", 85 pages, 409 lots, b/w illustrations, priced. Light wear, a little soil, gallery stamp on cover.

Inventory #: 31900
Price: $ 35.00       




Burgess, F.W. Chats on Old Copper and Brass. New York A.A. Wyn: 1955. 2nd, revised edition. First published in 1914, and thoroughly revised and updated here by Cyril G.E. Bunt. A good, authoritative if "chatty" text, covering both museum-quality and available collector's specimens. Includes domestic brasswork, lighting, bells, instruments, horse brasses, and much more. Hardcover. 5.5"x8", 184 pages plus 46 black & white plates, dust jacket. Light wear.

Inventory #: 33777
Price: $ 20.00       




Burks, Jean M. Birmingham Brass Candlesticks. Charlottesville University Press of Virginia: 1986. "An outstanding addition to the published material on English brass, this book goes beyond stylistic chronologies to investigate the brass founders who worked in Birmingham and the patented devices they incorporated into their products. It includes short biographies of Birmingham brass founders and American instrument makers" (Ames & Ward). "Jean M. Burk's manuscript does an excellent job in discussing the fabrication of brass candlesticks and, more importantly, in discussing the fabrication of the various ejection devices developed with the two-part stem. The latter is material previously unpublished and is important in the connoisseurship of candlesticks of the period. The identification and working dates of sixty eighteenth-century Birmingham candlestick makers is especially helpful and, even more so, is the detailed information about the seven firms which marked their candlesticks, and the very thorough analysis of their marked examples" (John Davis, dj blurb). Hardcover. 8.5"x11", 128 pages, 121 b/w plates, dj a near fine copy.

Inventory #: 32112
Price: $ 150.00       




Butler, Joseph T. Candleholders in America, 1650-1900. A Comprehensive Collection of American and European Candle Fixtures Used in America. New York Bonanza Books: 1967. Butler examines the early Colonial/Baroque period, the important Queen Anne and Chippendale periods, Neoclassic and Federal styles, and Victorian Historic Revivalism and the Art Nouveau Age. He also examines candle-making methods. Hardcover. 7.5"x10.5", 178 pages, color frontispiece and 136 b/w illustrations, dj. Jacket with some wear.

Inventory #: 34423
Price: $ 25.00       




Charleton, Arthur G. Tin: Describing the Chief Methods of Mining, Dressing & Smelting it Abroad. With Notes upon Arsenic, Bismuth and Wolfram. London E. & F.N. Spon: 1884. A scholarly study of European methods of mining, dressing and smelting tin, chiefly in Bohemia and Saxony. Charleton was a member of the American Institute of Mining Engineers. This copy bears the ownership signature of Manuel Antonio Gomes 'Himalaya' [1868-1933(?)]. "Father Himalaya" is considered to be the father of solar energy in Portugal, and a visionary pioneer in the field of renewable energy. After taking Holy Orders in the Society of Jesus he studied natural sciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, and traveled to France where he studied with the noted chemist Marcelin Berthelot. In 1899 he was granted a patent by the French government for a device to produce heat by focusing the sun's rays in 1900 he constructed a test device in the Pyrenees and attained a temperature of 1100 degrees centigrade. In 1902 an experiment in Lisbon attained 2000 degrees, and he made a final, startling demonstration of the power of such a device at the St. Louis Exposition in Missouri 1904. There he constructed his "Pireliofero", a 3-story high parabolic mirror mounted on a monstrous iron framework which focused sunlight on an oven mounted at the top of the structure. The oven reached a temperature of 3500 degrees, melting a test chunk of basalt, and Father Himalaya won a Grand Prize for his efforts. He promoted other forms of renewable energy as well, including tidal energy and hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal power. Alas, there was plenty of cheap coal and oil available, and his work was generally ignored and forgotten. Father Himalaya retired to become chaplain at Viana Castle, a charity home, where he died at the age of 65. His work has excited interest in Europe in recent years, and his ideas have only lately attained a measure of the respect which eluded them in his lifetime. Hardcover. 6"x9", 83 pages with 2 b/w plates and several text illustrations, plus 17 folding plates of plans and elevations. Light wear, a little rubbing to the tips, etc., text a bit browned, endpaper slightly spotted, but a very nice copy ownership inscription "Rev. M.A.G. Himalaya, Braga, Portugal, 1907" on the title page.

Inventory #: 5444
Price: $ 200.00       




Clark, Mary J. Illustrated Glossary of Decorated Antiques from the late 17th century to the early 20th. Rutland Charles Tuttle: 1990. Revised edition. An interesting Brazer-related stencil and paint-decorated title, published for the Historical Society of Early American Decoration. Information on furniture, toleware, and much more! Hardcover. 6.5"x9", 400 pages, hundreds of line illustrations, dj. A nice copy.

Inventory #: 30270
Price: $ 35.00       




Collecting Antique Pewter. What to Look for and What to Avoid. Pewter Collectors' Club of America: 2006. A really wonderful book for the pewter collector, the bulk of which is devoted to a series of photos and descriptions of fake pewter, or genuine old pewter with faked marks. There are also sections devoted to discussions of collecting, construction, rarity, and other topics useful to collectors. Hardcover. 8.5"x11", 214 pages, filled with black & white illustrations, dust jacket. New.

Inventory #: 90275
Price: $ 34.95       




Cotterell, Howard Herschel. Old Pewter. Its Makers and Its Marks in England, Scotland and Ireland. An Account of the Old Pewterer and His Craft. New York Charles Scribner's Sons: 1929. A classic work, this massive study remains an important reference today. Ames & Ward note: "Cotterell's book is helpful for an understanding of the early organization and regulation of the pewterers' craft in Great Britain [and] the listing of makers and marks is still the most comprehensive of its kind and is the standard reference cited in all other works on the subject. An important feature is the inclusion of oversize, fold-out facsimiles of the five London and two Edinburgh touchplates of pewterers' marks dating as early as 1640". Hardcover. 9"x11.5", xv + 432 pages, line illustrations and marks in the text, plus 76 black & white plates and 6 folding plates. Covers with some scuffs, light wear. Newly rebacked with new endpapers. Some light soil. Folding plates with light wear, a few seam rips, and one plate detached but present.

Inventory #: 34152
Price: $ 275.00       




Davis, Emily M. Eliphelet Chapin. [contained in] The Magazine Antiques. April, 1939. A "good biographical study" (Semowich). Semowich 98. This issue also contains the articles- "Philadelphia-Made Marble Mantels in Mississippi" by Harrold E. Gillingham "Old Metal Fenders" by F. Gordon Roe etc. Softcover. Light soil, light wear.

Inventory #: 7438
Price: $ 20.00       




Doud, Richard K. Winterthur Portfolio 4. University Press of Virginia for the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum: 1968. Includes articles on furniture in the lower Connecticut Rover valley by Richards, wallpaper seller William Poyntell by Hotchkiss, unrecorded American views on two Liverpool-type earthenware pitchers by Miller, Philadelphia engraver Francis Shallus by Holt, Pewterer Johann Christoph Heyne by de Jonge, New York Cabinetmaker John Hewitt by Johnson, and more. Hardcover. 8.5"x11", 228 pages, b/w illustrations. Near fine.

Inventory #: 33122
Price: $ 75.00       




Fairbanks, Jonathan. American Pewter in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston Museum of Fine Arts: 1974. An important catalog of this fine collection of 18th and 19th century American pewter. Many of the marks are illustrated. Softcover. 8.5"x11", 119 pages, black & white illustrations. Light wear, covers a bit rubbed.

Inventory #: 34552
Price: $ 40.00       




Fennimore, Donald E. Metalwork in Early America. Copper and Its Alloys from the Winterthur Collection. Winterthur: 1996. A magnificent and bulky book illustrating and describing antique copper, brass, bronze and paktong wares from the Winterthur Collection. Includes chapters on mining and manufacture, marketing and marking & metallurgy. The catalog is divided into sections for food & drink, heat, light, measurement, personal use, and hardware. Hardcover. 11"x9.5", 472 pages, 17 color and 697 b/w illustrations, dj. Bibliography. Glossary. New.

Inventory #: 90203
Price: $ 70.00       




Fennimore, Donald E. Metalwork in Early America. Copper and Its Alloys from the Winterthur Collection. Winterthur: 1996. A magnificent and bulky book illustrating and describing antique copper, brass, bronze and paktong wares from the Winterthur Collection. Includes chapters on mining and manufacture, marketing and marking & metallurgy. The catalog is divided into sections for food & drink, heat, light, measurement, personal use, and hardware. Hardcover. 11"x9.5", 472 pages, 17 color and 697 b/w illustrations, dj. Bibliography. Glossary. Light wear.

Inventory #: 33386
Price: $ 60.00       




Furst, Paul. Neu Flarengesichter und Comperlimentbuchlein fur Bildhauer, Schreiner, und dergleichen Kunstler. Nurnberg, Paul Furst: 1654. An absolutely wonderful suite of 15 engraved designs for craftsmen -sculptors, cabinet makers and metalworkers. Facial grotesque seems the best way of describing these ornaments -the heads of satyrs, Bacchian-types, demons and (I swear to God) Jay Leno, all make appearances, smirking, scowling, howling or laughing in churlish abandon. I can see these modeled in silver or gilt-brass or bronze. Also included are two similar sheets with floral-inspired vignettes. Not in the Berlin Catalog or NUC. Hardcover. 11.5"x7.25", engraved title page and 17 engraved figures mounted on period sheets. A little minor soil, but generally very nice. Newly bound into red cloth with a leather spine and raised bands.

Inventory #: 32228
Price: $ 1850.00       




Furst, Paul. Neu Flarengesichter und Comperlimentbuchlein fur Bildhauer, Schreiner, und dergleichen Kunstler. Nurnberg Paul Furst: 1654. An absolutely wonderful suite of engraved designs for craftsmen -sculptors, cabinet makers and metalworkers. Facial grotesque seems the best way of describing these ornaments -the heads of satyrs, Bacchian-types, demons and (I swear to God) Jay Leno, all make appearances, smirking, scowling, howling or laughing in churlish abandon. I can see these modeled in silver or gilt-brass or bronze. Not in the Berlin Catalog or NUC. 11.5"x7.25", engraved titlepage and 15 engraved figures mounted on contemporaneous sheets and sewn now disbound, but with a minor spine remnant hanging on to show it was bound at one time. Also included are two similiar sheets with floral-inspired vignettes. A little minor soil and, as I said, disbound and the last 2 sheets detached, but overall a very nice suite.

Inventory #: 29439
Price: $ 1850.00       




Gilboa, Violet. Catalog of the Bernice and Henry Tumen Collection of Jewish Ceremonial Objects in the Harvard College Library and the Harvard Semitic Museum. Cambridge Harvard University Library: 1993. This volume features photographs and descriptions of 166 Jewish ceremonial objects including wine cups beakers Sabbath lamps candlesticks spice boxes Hanukkah lamps Torah pointers crowns, shields, and finials plates for the Passover Seder and other occasions charity boxes Esther scrolls containers for the etrog fruit used on Sukkot marriage rings amulets and others. The vast majority of the objects are made of silver, with some additional pieces of pewter, a few brass and ceramic objects, and some textiles. Violet Gilboa is Littauer Hebraica Technical and Research Services Librarian at the Judaica Division of the Harvard College Library. Softcover. 6"x9", 172 pages, b/w illustrations bibliography. New.

Inventory #: 95038
Price: $ 25.00       




[Graesser Collection] Catalogue of 17th Century Oak and Other Furniture, English and Continental Pewter, and Rugs and Carpets, including the property of the late Mrs. A.S. Graesser. London Sotheby & Co.: April 24th, 1970. Softcover. 6"x9.5", 38 pages, 258 lots, 2 b/w plates price list.

Inventory #: 7477
Price: $ 15.00       




Hackenbroch, Yvonne. Bronzes and other Metalwork and Sculpture in the Irwin Untermyer Collection. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art: 1962. This collection includes much more than sculpture it also contains fire tools, plates, bowls, ewers, lamps and other lighting devices, inkstands, ornaments, vases, mortars, brackets, etc., in bronze, copper and pewter, of the 14th-18th centuries. "All of the more than two hundred objects included in this catalog, some never previously published, are illustrated, often with several detailed views. Most of them are fully discussed, relating them to other branches of art of the period in an introduction and in notes and comments by Dr. Yvonne Hackenbroch". Hardcover. 9"x12", lxv + 64 pages of text plus 201 b/w plates a little marginal scuffing, a little soil, worn dj.

Inventory #: 33992
Price: $ 175.00       




Herr, Donald M. Pewter in Pennsylvania German Churches. Birdsboro Pennsylvania German Society: 1995. A very well-illustrated study of 18th century Pennsylvania German pewter from area churches. Although some of the objects are obviously ecclesiastical, many are not, such as spoons, flagons, cups, tankards and such. Marks are illustrated and makers discussed. An important study. Hardcover. 8.5"x11", 214 pages, loaded with black & white and color illustrations, dj. Fine condition.

Inventory #: 32471
Price: $ 40.00       




Jones, Yvonne. Georgian & Victorian Japanned Ware of the West Midlands. Catalogue of the permanent collection and a temporary exhibition. Wolverhampton Art Gallery & Museums: 1982. Wolverhampton was one of the leading centers of the Midlands japanning industry, and although most japanned wares were unmarked, many of the pieces in this collection are identifiable by manufacturer because the manufacturers had given them to the gallery. The exhibition was augmented by loaned examples. In addition to the catalog there is a good text describing the rise and fall of the Midlands japanning industry. Softcover. 6"x8", 126 pages, 51 b/w illustrations light wear.

Inventory #: 31433
Price: $ 75.00       




Kauffman, Henry J. American Copper & Brass. New York Thomas Nelson & Sons: 1968. A well illustrated study of copper and brass implements in America of the 18th and 19th centuries. Kauffman provides his usual thorough and detailed explanations of the craft of the metalsmiths and their wares. Includes kettles, pots, pans, stills, mugs, stencils, ladles, measures, funnels, basins, andirons, bells, door knockers, skillets, lancets, tomahawks, button, instruments, balances, sundials, lighting, locks, and much more! A standard reference. Hardcover. 7"x10", 288 pages, color frontispiece and numerous b/w illustrations. Light wear, edges sunned.

Inventory #: 8894
Price: $ 25.00       




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