Specimen Book of One Hundred Architectural Designs, Showing Plans, Elevations and Views of Suburban Houses, Villas, Sea-side and Camp-ground Cottages, Homesteads, Churches and Public Buildings, Including Specifications, Bills of Materials, Etc

New York: A. J. Bicknell & Co.. 1878. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. F First Edition. H Hard Cover. Very Good. Scarce first edition [1878] of this important reference for Victorian architecture, mainly residential, but also including a few designs for churches, store fronts, etc. Also includes several original designs for mantels and furniture especially prepared for this work. The book draws from several sources, and functions as a bibliographic reference for house- plan books of the 1870s, providing samples from several and citing their origins, such as Woollett's "Villas and Cottages, or Homes for All"; Atwood's "Modern American Homesteads"; and from other books by this same publisher. Almost every page contains either a rendering, floor plans, construction, details, etc. Dark teal blue cloth with silver gilt spine lettering "100 Architectural Designs Price $1.00" and a silver gilt Morgan dollar on the front cover, other cover printing in black, dark brown endpapers, all edges tinted red, eighty pages plus a full color plate for Minton's floor tiles at the back. Also includes some other advertising for building materials and accessories. Some light cover wear, mainly some rubbing to the covers and spine ends, a bit of light cover soil, good hinges, firm text block, clean pages with just a light bit of sparsely occasional foxing. Front free endpaper has two tiny closed tears, the rear free endpaper some light edgewear, name, town and 1878 date on first blank, no other markings. Very well kept copy.