Clip Art Books

This collection of plates is an extract from "L'Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts, et les Métiers", a 28-volume collection published in the mid-1700s. It contains some detail drawings of columns, capitals, windows, arches, pediments, and porticos, several of them with contrasting representations of different orders (Doric, Ionic, et al). There are also façades (front elevations) and plans for a palace, church, abbey, town hall, prison, mansion, theater, and concert hall, just in case you were thinking of cobbling one of those together. There is a collection of traverse and longitudinal sections for rooms you might find in these buildings, along with furniture, floor patterns, ceiling patterns, and sculptures. The focus is on Greek- and Roman-based architectural elements.

The last half of the book is devoted to craftsmen's tools and techniques. There are some fascinating illustrations of masonry work, tile laying, and wall framing. There is also a small collection of other oddities, from pile drivers to underwater saws.

This book has little practical value today, but it does have a certain "gee whiz" factor. Architect and mechanical engineers might appreciate some of the drawings. Otherwise, unless you are a truly eclectic collector of architectural works, you can give this one a pass.