London: Rivington in connection with the Incorporated Church Building Society 1863-1879

Bound as 6 volumes. Contemporary gilt lettered quarter calf with marbled boards. Corners and marbling on boards and spines a little rubbed else in good condition. Internally bright The first six volumes of the official journal of the Church Building Society, which ran until 1908. Packed with useful information and containing articles on general principles and techniques alongside accounts of individual churches being built, restored or extended. Illustrated with b/w plates showing proposed restorations and completed projects, this journal is a wonderful record of church architecture in the period. It is particularly useful for the study of the subject as each quarterly issue includes a list of new or restored churches with the date of their consecration, details of the architect used and a summary of the architectural work completed. Notoriously difficult to collate, this set contains all the parts called for together with two extra illustrations in no xvii, facing page 34, St Hilda's Hospital, Hartlepool and no xviii, facing p76 Christ Church Freemantle. The contents page for nos 1-4 not present but it is unclear if it was every produced. Similarly there is no title page or contents for nos 33-36.

London Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co. nd 1870-1873

Publication in parts begun in 1870 - 104 parts issued, completed 1872. Four volumes, each with chromolithographic frontis. Vol. 1: iv + 412 pp; Vol. 2: iv + 412 pp; Vol. 3: iv + 412pp; and Vol. 4: iv + 428 pp. Small 4to. Publisher's quarter calf with gilt lettering. Vg. Collection of Dresser's series of 31 articles, including the first printing of his article "Principles of Design" within these volumes. The articles formed the basis of the 1876 book, 'Studies in Design'. Dresser's designs include the first appearance of his aesthetic teapot. Other articles include 'Chemistry Applied to the Arts', 'Material on Colour Pigments', 'Civil Engineering', 'Colour Theory' (by A H Church) 'The Lathe', 'Optical Instruments', 'Museums: Their Construction, Arrangement and Management', 'Photography, 'Ship Building', etc. Bright set. A brilliant example of journals at the time demonstrating the whole range of interests the Victorians held in design matters. Cassell's Technical Educator was the most successful of the Victorian self-help part-works. It was a companion to Cassell's New Popular Educator. It appears to have come out in fortnightly issues over a period of 2 years - although most surviving copies seem to have been sold as two or four volume sets. The intended readership was evidently the upwardly mobile class of skilled artisans and mechanics.