PRICE, John and 5 others.

by John and 5 others Price

£19,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

A unique collection of eight pamphlets dated 1728-43 – I, III-VI and VIII in their first edition, I unrecorded – all devoted to plans and designs for the building of a stone bridge between Westminster and Lambeth. With 7 engraved folding plates illustrating various proposed designs. Westminster Bridge was built between 1739-50 by the Swiss Charles Labelye, after its plan had been opposed by the London guilds and waterman since the 1660s. Meanwhile, a wooden bridge had been built near Putney in 1729, to ease the traffic. Most of these pamphlets were written by major architects, such as Batty Langley and John James, later involved in the construction of the bridge. No similar collections appear to be recorded in any library worldwide, with some of these pamphlets absent from major bibliographies. It would be impossible now to replicate this collection. Together they illustrate the history of the long-standing debates on the construction and designs of this bridge. Apparently unrecorded elsewhere, John Price’s ‘A Short History of Bridges’ (1728) discusses some of the most important bridges, ancient and modern, as an explanation to some drawings by Price, including one of London Bridge and the bridge at Rochester, which this pamphlet was supposed to accompany. Price also mentions his design for the bridge at Fulham, on which he was working at the time. Although the pamphlet bears ‘End of Part I’ as a last line, no other parts appear to have been published. In ‘Some Considerations

• Binding: Hardcover

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