Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528) was not only a master Renaissance artist, but also a master theoretician. Toward the end of his life he produced three works on perspective, beginning with Unterweysung der Messung (1525), which would forever alter the landscape of human thought. For the first time in history, Durer explicated the marriage of science and art that was to become the foundation of Renaissance thought, consequently forming the basis of "accepted aesthetic dogma until the 19th century" (Carter, PMM, 54). The second of these works, originally published in German in 1528 as Vier Bucher von menschlicher Proportion, is presented here in its first translation into Latin, as De Symmetria Partium [1532] and De Varietate Figurarum [1534]. It was these Latin translations by Joachim Camerarius that allowed the filtration of Durer's influential ideas throughout the rest of the continent of Europe, to be discovered by Michelangelo and a host of other Renaissance thinkers and artists. These two volumes bound as one are complete except for the final blank in each volume. The plates for this edition were printed using the woodblocks from the original edition of 1528. The full early calf binding is stamped in blind with an armorial device featuring a pelican in her piety and a series of blocked decorative floral borders. A beautiful copy of one of the most influential works on Renaissance art and thought. more info...

By almost all accounts, the most important book written on America by a foreign Observer, Democracy in America is the result of Alexis de Tocqueville's 1831 travels throughout the burgeoning democracy in search of "the shape of democracy itself." Ostensibly examining the state of the American prison system on a commission from the French Government, Tocqueville witnessed and understood much more on his sojourn, expanding his designs to capture many facets of the new phenomenon of America. Certainly better than any of his contemporaries, and arguably better than anyone since, Tocqueville presciently portrayed the developing country, and with it the beginnings of the modern world. Originally published in French in 1835, this is the First American Edition from 1838. A second part would follow in 1840. more info...

The artist Auguste Morisot (1857 - 1951) came of age in the era of the travel painter. His introduction to the medium came when he served as the artist attached to Jean Chaffanjon's 1886 expedition on the Orinoco river, the account of which became the basis for Jules Verne's Le Superbe Orenoque. Relying heavily on the descriptions of the area from Chaffonjon's L'Orenoque et le Caura, voyage aux sources de l'Orenoque (1889), Verne gives an explicit nod to the real life explorer as Jean de Kermor and his companions refer to Chaffanjon's expedition throughout the text, including a reference to his "compagnon" Moussot, i.e. Morisot. This early copy of Le Superbe Orenoque bears the monogram of Auguste Morisot on the title page, with an inscription from Morisot to his daughter, Marcelle. An interesting copy of one of the scarcer Verne works, which did not see an English translation until 2003. more info...

Lauded by most as a witty and incisive account of Hollywood's narcissism, Lulu in Hollywood, a collection of essays by quintessential flapper and silent film star, Louise Brooks, casts often unflattering light on show business personalities such as Marion Davies, Humphrey Bogart, W.C. Fields, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, and Charlie Chaplin. Brooks astounded critics not only with her abilities as a writer, but also her keen insights into the movie industry. A trained dancer turned Ziegfeld show girl turned actress, she is perhaps most remembered for her unrelenting contempt for celebrity. In Lulu in Hollywood, Brooks justifies her attitude when she calls herself "an inhumane executioner of the bogus," in "cruel pursuit" of truth, while William Shawn describes her as "a brilliant observer of others." Published in 1982, years after Brooks had made her last film, the book garnered much attention, proof that her indelible persona continued to fascinate her many fans. more info...

Jacques Androuet du Cerceau was the most famous of an important family of French architects, engravers, and designers working throughout the Sixteenth and Seventeenth centuries. This volume is the first he produced in conjunction with the royal family. In it he provides models and instructions for the designs of fifty town houses on estates of various sizes, depending on economic and social scale, while still attempting to preserve ties to the classical tradition. According to Millard, this must be seen as the first wholly French publication of French architecture in the new classical style, and the first attempt to systematize French building practice. The book was designed as both a pattern book for the use of masons and carpenters, as well as a illustrative look at design. An important early work from the founder of one of the most important families of French design. Printed in the same year by the same printer as the Latin edition. (Millard 6, p.11). more info...