39

Owen Biddle.

The Young Carpenter's Assistant; or, A System of Architecture, Adapted to the Style of Building in the United States.

Philadelphia: Benjamin Johnson, 1805
44 plates (2 of them folding). 64 pages. 4to, contemporary calf, moderate wear; front hinge split, foxing, moderate wear, intermittent dampstaining to contents, occasional separations along platemarks; owner inscriptions on front free endpaper. In modern cloth folding case.

  • Notes: First edition of the second original architectural book in America. "Nothing on Architecture has heretofore appeared in this country, where the field for improvement in every useful art and science is, perhaps, more extensive than in any other." Rink, Technical Americana 1768; Shaw & Shoemaker 8018; Streeter sale VII:4174.

    Provenance: R. Williams of Albany, NY, 1828; William A. Bender of Albany, 1901 (listed as a carpenter in the 1910 census). 
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November 20, 2025 10:30 AM EST
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