Ramsay's Architectural and Engineering Catalogue. A Filing System of Manufacturers' Catalogues and Technical Bulletins designed for Architects, Engineers and such other Persons whose Practice it is to select, specify or use Building Materials and Equipment. 1939 Edition
Melbourne, Ramsay Standard Catalogue Service, 1939.
Large quarto, upwards of 1000 pages with many hundreds of illustrations (some in colour), as well as hundreds of paint samples - from the likes of Rogers, Berger, Sherwin-Williams, Ricksha, Balm and Wesco - mounted on 23 leaves (versos blank).
Stone-textured brown cloth printed and decorated in red and black; extremities slightly rubbed; four sheets of paint samples are adhering to varying degrees to the blank versos of adjacent leaves; notwithstanding, an excellent copy.
Number 2682 of an unspecified print run. 'The 1939 edition of Ramsay's Catalogue eclipses all previous records. Never in the history of the building industry in Australia has a publication of this size and importance been attempted, much less achieved, and we are justly proud of its appearance' (introductory note). An article in 'The Argus', Thursday 13 June 1939, announced that the work 'has just been published'; never in the history of the building industry in Australia was there a worse time to launch such an ambitious project than the eve of the Second World War! The article continues: 'The catalogue is not sold to the public, but is issued to architects' offices throughout Australia'. The complete and long-term disruption to the industries featured in this catalogue must go a long way towards explaining why this wonderful time-capsule is very scarce (we locate only three copies in Trove). The next edition of the catalogue was not published until 1947.
Item #107714
Price (AUD):
$750.00