Wright, Frank Lloyd — William C. Gannet | First edition of The House Beautiful, signed

Wright, Frank Lloyd — William C. Gannet

The House Beautiful. River Forest, IL: Printed By Hand At The Auvergne Press In River Forest By William Herman Winslow And Frank Lloyd Wright, 1896-7

Folio (345 x 283 mm). Half-title, double-page title printed in red and black on handmade paper; some minor browning. With a hand-sewn booklet of 12 photogravure studies of plants on japon paper attached to the front free endpaper; some browning, creasing, and a few stray marginal spots. Quarter brown calf and green paper-covered boards, gilt frames on calf, titled in gilt within frame, green endpapers; binding expertly restored using original materials. Custom clamshell case and folding chemise.

First edition, designed and printed by Frank Lloyd Wright and W.H. Winslow—number 18 of 90 copies, signed by Wright and Winslow.

Winslow was an early client of Wright and a hobby printer. Auvergne Place, Winslow's house, was built in 1893 and was the first independent commission by Wright after leaving Adler & Sullivan. "The intricate ornament designs of The House Beautiful are the linear geometric productions of the architect's T-square, triangle and compass, and they show Wright's original and complex imagination for decoration ... and [the book] sets the style for the format and decoration of most of his later published works" (Wick).

In a letter documented in Wick, Wright states that he found inspiration of the designs in "the seed pods of weeds growing all about. The dried weeds were photographed and the photographs added to the fly leaf." Thus explaining the addition of the photogravures.

A handsome copy.