Rare and Unusual Books

Published: NY, The Architectural Book Publ Co,
Date: 1922.
Description: Frontis, 298pp, with 1203 figs (high-quality photos, line illustrations, plans, maps etc), bibliography. Gilt lettered cloth. 41x31. Folio. Professionally re-spined to make a very nice copy.
Notes: The original edition of this magisterial study of urban design and its roots. Collins says that, by the time the work was published, Hegemann had returned to Berlin and Peets had established himself as an independent landscape planner. Despite the book’s title, the scope is international. Camillo Sitte is a major influence and something of a springboard for the work, though his approach is widened here. “Civic Art” is a broader concept and more sympathetic to modern urbanism than the “City Beautiful” idea and the authors include material on skyscrapers and garden villages. This great work is also very notable for its fine illustrations. As well as the many original drawings by Peets, Hegemann organised a superb collection of photos and plans, carefully positioned on each page and juxtaposing different places and epochs. This book was also a milestone in city planning book design and was greeted with something like awe at the time. Subsequently, however, it fell into neglect, to be re-discovered only in the last two or three decades.
ISBN:
Price: £450.00