Bibliography for the Preservation Carpentry Program, the North Bennet Street School, 2023

 

This April, the Preservation Carpentry students at the North Bennet Street School in Boston and I explored the use of geometry in construction: Practical Geometry.  

 

We practiced drawing circles, rectangles, floor plans and window layouts with a compass and straight edge. I gave a PowerPoint introduction on the historic use of geometry. The students asked good questions. 

We often referred to the books I had with me.

I had not made a list of those books, a bibliography. The students asked for one.

 

Here it is. 

   Bibliography for the Preservation Carpentry Program, NBBS, 2023

               ***       ****      *****             *****      ****      ***

Benjamin, Asher. The Country Builder’s Assistant, 1797, Dickman, printer, Greenfield, MA – reprint by Applewood Books, Bedford, MA.

  *The American Builder’s Companion, 6^th edition, 1827, RP &C Williams, Boston

Biddle, Owen. *Young Carpenter’s Assistant, 1805, published by Benjamin Johnson, Philadelphia.

Downes, Kerry, Sir Christopher Wren: The design of St. Paul's Cathedral, 1988, Trefoil Publication1805,s, Ltd., London

Gibbs, James. *Book on Architecture, London, 1728

Langley, Batty, The Builder's Director or Bench-Mate, 1751, printed for and sold by H.Piers, London                        

Nicholson, Peter. The Carpenter’s New Guide, 1793, London; 10^th ed., Philadelphia, 1830.

Pain, William, The Practical Builder,  London, 1774.

Palladio, Andreas. *The 4 Books of Architecture, 1570, translated and published by Isaac Ware,London, 1738.

Serlio, Sebastian. On Architecture, Lyon, France 1530, translated in1611,  on-line.Translated by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks, 1996, Yale University Press, New Haven

                     *Serlio on Domestic Architecture, 1978, MIT Press, Cambridge,MA, and the Architectural Foundation, NY; Dover Publication.

Shaw, Edward. *The Modern Architect, Dayton & Wentworth, Boston, 1854

Smith, Laurie,**  The Geometrical Design of St. David’s Cathedral Nave Ceiling,  2017;

                       Architectural Geometry A Rare Geometrical Record from Rural Devon, 2020;  

                      The Geometrical Design Of Harmondsworth Great Barn, 2021; published by The Geometric Design Works in partnership with the UK Carpenters' Fellowship, printed Exeter, UK.

Vitruvius, Marcus. *The Ten Books on Architecture, c. 10 BCE, translated by Morris Hicky Morgan, Harvard University Press, 1914.

Walker, George  and Tolpin, Jim, By Hound and Eye, A Plain and Easy Guide to Designing Furniture with no Further Trouble, 2015, Lost Art Press, Fort Mitchell, KY.

Ware, William R. *The American Vignola, 1903

 

  * reprint available through Dover Publications

  ** I act as a US distributor for Laurie Smith's books. I buy them in batches which makes the postage reasonable. Please contact me if you would like to purchase one.

A Bibliography for my Traditional Building Conference presentation, April 7, 2022.

 

 

 Bibliography

 Using the Historic Practice of Practical Geometry Today

 

Berg, Donald J. American Country Building Design, Sterling Publishing Co,

                Inc. NY, 1997.

Benjamin, Asher. The Country Builder’s Assistant, 1797, Dickman, printer, 

                Greenfield,  MA – reprint by Applewood Books, Bedford, MA.

              *The American Builder’s Companion, 6^th edition, RP &C Williams, Boston, 1827.

Biddle, Owen. *Young Carpenter’s Assistant, published by Benjamin Johnson, Philadelphia,

               1807

Charles, FWB, The Great Barn of Bredon, Its Fire and Reconstruction, Oxbow  Monograph 76,

               1997, Oxford Books, Oxford, UK.

Downing, A. J. *The Architecture of Country Houses, originally published by D. Appleton &  

               Company, 1850.

Fletcher, Bannister, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, Charles Scribner’s 

               Sons, NY, 17^th Ed. 1967.

Gibbs, James. *Book on Architecture, London, 1728

Graham, Frank D., Audels Carpenter and Builders Guide, NY, 1923. 

Green, Bryan Clark. In Jefferson’s Shadow, the Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn, Princeton

               University Press, NY, 2006

Lafever. Minard, *The Modern Builder's Guide, NY, 1833. 

Langley, Batty,  The Builder's Director, or Bench-Mate, London, 1751, reprint Westbrook 

               Lithographers, Inc.,Westbury, NY. 

Macaulay, David. Mosque, 2003, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

Nicholson, Peter. The Carpenter’s New Guide, 1793, London; 10^th ed., Philadelphia, 1830.

Pain, William, The Practical House Carpenter: or, Youth's Instructor, London, 1794, Gale Ecco

                reprint.

Palladio, Andreas. *The 4 Books of Architecture, 1570, translated and published by Isaac Ware,

              London, 1738.

Rossiter, E.K. and Wright, F.A. *Authentic Color Schemes for Victorian Houses, Comstock's 

               Modern House Painting, 1883.

             

Salmon, William, Palladio Londinensis,  London, 1755, Gale Ecco reprint.

Serlio, Sebastian. On Architecture, Lyon, France 1530, translated in 1611, available on-line. 

              Translated by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks, 1996, Yale University Press, New Haven.

Shaw, Edward. *The Modern Architect, Dayton & Wentworth, Boston, 1854.

Shoppell, R.W. et al., Turn-of-the Century Houses, Cottages and Villas, NYC, c. 1900.

Smith, Laurie, The Geometrical Design of St. David’s Cathedral Nave Ceiling, A Geometer’s

               Perspective, The Geometrical Design Works, 2017, printed Exeter, UK.

               The Geometric Design of Harmondsworth Great Barn, Historic Building Carpentry in

               partnership with The UK Carpenters Fellowship, 2021, printed Exeter, UK.

da Vignola,  Giancomo Barozzi, *Canon of the Five Orders  of Architecture, translated by John

               Leeke, published by William Sherwin, 1669.                                  

Vitruvius, Marcus. *The Ten Books on Architecture, c. 10 BCE, translated by Morris Hick Morgan, 

               Harvard University Press, 1914.

Walker, George, and Tolpin, Jim, By Hound & Eye, Lost Art Press, Ft. Mitchell, KY, 2015. This book

               is a hands-on, first steps, introduction to using geometry in construction.

Ware, William R, *The American Vignola, Norton and Co. NYC, 1903.

Woodward, George E. and Thompson, Edward G, *A Victorian Housebuilder's Guide, Woodward's 

               National Architect, NY, 1869.

          

 

 

*Reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY

 

All images, if they are not mine, are credited on the slide on which they appear. For more information, send a note to me through this blog: www.jgrarchitect.com.

Drawings:

     HABS drawings, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

     Denison Bingham Hull, Old First Church, Bennington, Vermont, c. 1935.

     James Platteter, barn frame for Green Mountain Timber Frames, 2014

     All others: Jane Griswold Radocchia

 

This list may not be necessary. However, I reference all these books as I speak, and those who attend my presentation may wish to follow up later in connection to their own projects. It's much easier to have the titles here than to try to have the information available during the PowerPoint.
Original editions of many of these books can be read at museum libraries. I have read early editions at the Memorial Libraries, Deerfield, MA, library and the library at Gunston Hall, Mason's Neck, VA.

Bibliography for Practical Geometry, aka Architectural Geometry

A list of books by and about builders and architects who used Practical Geometry; many are primary sources.
At the end are other sources, websites, and credits.
It does not include books I refer to in a specific post. For example: Audel's Carpenters and Builders Guide, Theo Audel & Co. Publisher, NYC, 1923, is footnoted at the end of that post: https://www.jgrarchitect.com/2018/11/lines-in-historic-and-modern.html.

A few are books on architectural history and technology which I reference regularly:  Bannister Fletcher's History and Knight's American Mechanical Dictionary.

PRACTICAL GEOMETRY   aka ARCHITECTURAL GEOMETRY  

  

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Benjamin, Asher. The Country Builder’s Assistant, 1797, Dickman, printer, Greenfield, MA –

     reprint by Applewood Books, Bedford, MA.

                     *The American Builder’s Companion, 6^th edition, RP &C Williams, Boston, 1827

 

Biddle, Owen. *Young Carpenter’s Assistant, published by Benjamin Johnson, Philadelphia,

     1805.

Charles, FWB. The Great Barn of Bredon, Its Fire and Reconstruction, Oxbow Monograph 76,

     1997, Oxford Books, Oxford, UK.

Colvin, H.M., A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects,1600-1840, Harvard U. Press, Cambridge, 1954.

Fletcher, Bannister. A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, Charles Scribner’s

      Sons, NY, 17^th Ed. 1967.

Gibbs, James. *Book on Architecture, London, 1728

                       Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture, printed by W. Bower for the

      author, London, 1732, ECCO print edition

Glassie, Henry. Folk Housing in Middle Virginia, U of Tennessee Press: Knoxville, 1979

Green, Bryan Clark. In Jefferson’s Shadow, the Architecture of Thomas R. Blackburn, Princeton

       University Press, NY, 2006

Harris, Eileen. British Architectural Books and Writers, 1556-1785, Cambridge U. Press, Cambridge, 1990

Harris, Leslie. Robert Adam and Kedleston, The National Trust, London, 1987.

Knight, Edward H. American Mechanical Dictionary, Vol I, II, III; J.B. Ford & Co. NY, 1874.

Macaulay, David. Mosque, 2003, Houghton Mifflin co., Boston. His many books are excellent references. 

Nicholson, Peter. The Carpenter’s New Guide, 1793, London; 10^th ed., Philadelphia, 1830.

Palladio, Andreas. *The 4 Books of Architecture, 1570, translated and published by Isaac Ware,

      London, 1738.

Serlio, Sebastian. On Architecture, Lyon, France 1530, translated in1611, available on-line. 

       Translated by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks, 1996, Yale University Press, New Haven

Shaw, Edward. *The Modern Architect, Dayton & Wentworth, Boston, 1854

Smith, Laurie, The Geometrical Design of St. David’s Cathedral Nave Ceiling, A Geometer’s

      Perspective, The Geometrical Design Works, 2017, printed Exeter, UK. and others.

Vitruvius, Marcus. *The Ten Books on Architecture, c. 10 BCE, translated by Morris Hicky

      Morgan, Harvard University Press, 1914.

Ware, William R.. The American Vignola, * of the first edition published by WW Norton& Co.  NY, 1977 ( original edition, 1903)

*Reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., Mineola, NY

Drawings:

     HABS drawings, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

     Denison Bingham Hull, Old First Church, Bennington, Vermont, c. 1935.

     James Platteter, barn frame for Green Mountain Timber Frames, 2014

     All others: Jane Griswold Radocchia

 

Web sites:

     www.jgrarchitect.com (you are here!)  and  www.janegriswoldradocchia.com

for Laurie Smith: 

     http://historicbuildinggeometry.uk/ and http://www.thegeometricaldesignworks.com/   

 

See also : Instagram   'jrarchitect'

 

 

This blog post is subject to updating.  

It was first complied to accompany a lecture on Practical Geometry Geometry in 2016. It is now available whenever I present.