Books and Manuscripts

(Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1910). First edition. Partial set, one portfolio only (V.I), containing 34 (of 72) lithographic plates, including plates: I, III-V, VII, IX-XII, VX, XVII-XVIII, XX-XXV, XXX-XXXII, XLIIIa, XLIV, XLVII, XLVIIa, IL (i.e. XLIX), LII, and LVIII-LXIV (plate LVIII tissue overlay only); each with Wright's embossed stamp; plates I, VII, IX, X, XII, XV, XVII, XXX, XXXI, XXXII, XLIX, LII, LVIII (see above note), LX, LXII-LXIV with captioned tissue overlays (plate XV with two overlays); loose as issued. Each measuring 16 x 25 1/4 in. (406 x 641 mm). Lacking text volume. Plates and tissue variously toned; dampstaining along left edge and bottom corner of some plates; scattered wrinkling and chipping to tissue overlays. Original quarter brown cloth over grey-brown board portfolio, stamped in black, worn, dampstained, lacking ties; remnants of removed book-plates and labels on inner panels. Sweeney 87

Scarce partial first edition copy of Frank Lloyd Wright's highly influential "Wasmuth Portfolio." This portfolio was conceived as a collaboration between Wright and Berlin publisher Ernst Wasmuth to produce a complete portfolio of Wright's work up to that time. Production began in 1909 between Wright and a team of draftsman, including Wright's son, as well as architects Taylor Wooley, and Marion Mahony Griffin, and was published the following year. It proved to be hugely influential to the budding first generation modernist architects in Europe such as Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Theo van Doesburg, and Le Corbusier. Describing the first time he viewed the portfolio, Viennese architect, Richard Neutra--later an assistant to Wright--exclaimed, "Whoever he was, Frank Lloyd Wright, that man far away, had done something momentous and rich in meaning. This miracle man instilled in me the conviction that, no matter what, I would have to go to the places where he walked and worked."

Rare in any form. Only approximately 650 sets of the portfolio were ever produced, with 500 being put aside for distribution in the United States. Unfortunately, the majority of these sets were destroyed during the tragic fire and murders at Wright's studio, Taliesin, on August 15, 1914. It was partly due to this fire, and the loss of the sets, that Wright's influence was initially felt in Europe where these portfolios first circulated. According to Wright, only 30 sets were saved from the fire, and most are considered condition-compromised, which might account for the condition issues noted above.