Lot 25: [NORMAN, John (ca 1748-1817)].The Town and Country Builder’s Assistant: Absolutely necessary to be understood by builders and workmen in general…by a Lover of Architect. Boston: N.E.: J. Norman, [15 March, 1786].

[NORMAN, John (ca 1748-1817)]. The Town and Country Builder’s Assistant: Absolutely necessary to be understood by builders and workmen in general…by a Lover of Architect. Boston: N.E.: J. Norman, [15 March, 1786]. Small 2° (306 x 187 mm). Engraved frontispiece, 60 engraved plates. (Frontispiece with tears crossing image and backed, overall browning, spotting, staining and offsetting, manuscript notes in a juvenile hand on recto of one plate and verso of others, a few marginal tears, some with small losses.) Modern brown morocco by René Kieffer; green cloth slipcase. Provenance: Unobtrusive ink and pencil annotations on plates in the hand of an early owner (or owners); James Grote Vanderpool (ownership signature on verso of flyleaf). FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD OF ARCHITECTURE COMPILED IN AMERICA. After issuing the first American edition of Swan’s The British Architect (see lot 33), Norman arrived in Boston in 1780 and “compiled this work from a variety of English sources. In its house plans and details this collection more nearly approaches the needs of the average well-to-do man than the more ambitious reprint of…British Architect” (Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society). Following the publication of Swan and Norman's works, which were the first architecture work compiled in America and the first complete architectural work issued in the United States, Benjamin Asher published his The Country Builder’s Assistant (Greenfield, MA, 1797) which is the earliest original architectural work written by an American and published in this country (see lot 22). RARE: according to American Book Prices Current, only one complete copy of this work has appeared at auction in the last 35 years: Christie’s New York, 1 October 1980, lot 20. See Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, "The Colonial Scene-1602-1800", April 1950, Volume 60, Part 1.