The Frozen Fountain, Being Essays on Architecture and the Art of Design in Space
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1932. Stated First Edition. 4to.10-7/16" x 7-3/4" Black cloth covered boards. Pictorial endpapers. 125 pp. A touch of wear at top of spine, otherwise fine condition. Item #838
This book is addressed to everyone interested in the fine arts, to designers in all fields, and particularly to architects, architectural students, and draughtsmen. It constitutes the final distillation of many years of thought and experimentation along unusual lines. Naturally, I am desirous that it shall be read and pondered, but according to the habit of the day there are many who will only skim it and look at the pictures. Realizing this, I have tried to cram these as full of meaning and interest as possible, making them self-explanatory and provocative. Th this end I have had recourse to a most ancient device, one used by Dürer and Hogarth. It consists in many different presentations of the same symbolical character in situations and surroundings which are themselves symbolical - as in The Dance of Death, and The Rake's Progress. To my fictional protagonist I have given the name of Sinbad, not alone for the reason that this Arabian voyager had many strange adventures in strange lands, and might have unchronicled others, but the name seemed appropriate because -well, aren't we all? I mean, of course bad sinners. It is a synonym for Everyman, which is what I wanted - the reader, the author, the candlestick-maker: that is, more specifically, the artist. This is a sort of Pilgrim's Progress. John Bunyan's masterpiece is a serious book, but so entertaining that my mother used to read it aloud to me when I was a child. This is a serious book, but with Sinbad's help I have tried to make it amusing. The American Spirit, as Kipling says, is "stirred, like a child, by little things," and I have sought to honor this truth by a due observance.
Price: $150.00