Fine Books and Manuscripts

Swan, Abraham. The British Architect: or the Builders Treasury of Stair-cases. [Philadelphia: John Norman, 1775]. Prospectus, 52 (of 60) engraved plates, lacking title-page. Folio. Disbound. Plates 51 and 54-60 lacking, several leaves with voids, notably text leaf D1 and plate XLIV, dampstaining and chipping in places. Fowler 341; Evan 42944/B4124. The first architecture book published in America. Reprinted from the British edition, first published in 1745. The prospectus solicits subscriptions for ‘The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker’s Assistant’ by the publisher John Norman and John Folwell, as well as another work by Swan, ‘A Collection of Designs in Architecture’. Norman would never publish those, as the outbreak of the American revolution disrupted his trade.