A List of Architectural Books Available in America before the Revolution

Hennessey & Ingalls, Los Angeles, new edition, 1973. Cloth, 8vo, 24 cm,. xv, [1], 79 pp, ills. From the blurb: "Since its original appearance as an article in the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, the "Park List" has become a basic bibliographic tool for the study of American architectural history. It establishes which books were present in America at various stages of the colonial period and where they were located, thus identifying the sources for the stylistic, pictorial and structural characteristics of pre-revolutionary architecture. Mrs. Park developed her list through a careful examination of contemporary records consisting for the most part of booksellers' catalogues and inventories of private and semi-public libraries. Her analysis of the frequency of occurrence of certain titles, as well as which titles do not occur at all, reveals much about the nature of colonial architecture and the cultural climate of eighteenth-century America. The sources of these references are thoroughly annotated in a special section devoted to them. The list itself includes the dates of different editions of each work, together with locations in modern as well as eighteenth-century collections. For this first publication in readily available book form, Mrs. Park has considerably expanded her material as a result of her own recent findings and continued contacts with the field's leading scholars. Nineteen new titles have been added to the original eighty-seven, as well as a number of new location symbols and source references. Good in used dustwrapper with edgewear and tears.