Written by Janet Parks, retired Curator of Drawings & Archives

In August 2024, Avery Classics acquired a third copy of John Wood’s work, The Origin of building. While it is rare for the collection to add copies of books it already holds, this copy was truly exceptional. An inscription facing the book’s title page identified it as coming from the library of Alexander Jackson Davis, the influential American architect who built across much of the 19^th century :

As his own note reflects, Davis claimed the volume as part of his library in 1830, making the book a very early acquisition of his professional library. In addition to being inscribed, the work is also annotated throughout in Davis’ hand, with extensive manuscript notes and several architectural drawings on blank leaves towards the book’s back. After Davis’ death, this book was listed as item 25 in the auction catalog of his library, which was brought for sale in 1901. His copy of The origin of building sold then for $2.

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Throughout the 19^th century, American architects relied on their professional libraries to inform, inspire, and elevate their designs and often allowed students and fellow architects access to their libraries. Alexander Jackson Davis dated his own professional practice to the study of Stuart and Revett’s Antiquities of Athens, available in Ithiel Town’s library.  A talented artist, Davis had been earning his living in the 1820s preparing drawings of street scenes for print publication and architectural drawings and perspectives for professional architects. After studying Town’s copy of Stuart and Revett, Davis envisioned his future clearly, noting in his Day Book: “1828 March 15 First study of Stuarts Athens, from which I date Professional Practice.” He was then 24 and the following year, he entered into a practice with Ithiel Town.

Born into a family of bibliophiles and educators, Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892) was throughout his life an avid reader and print and book collector. He acquired many architecture books from Town’s library, and also made his own library available for study by other architects and even clients.

We know the contents of Town’s and Davis’s libraries through the auction catalogs of their contents, following the deaths of the architects. Here is one of several notices of the auction of books from Ithiel Town’s library, which was printed in 1844 (below left).  After Davis’ own death, his children Joseph and Flora arranged for the auction of his books on May 28 and 29, 1901 at Bangs auction house, a well-established dealer where Davis bought many books and prints. In addition to his architectural books, Davis enjoyed a wide range of subjects, including accounts of travel and cultures around the world, drama, religious works, and contemporary literature. Of the several existing copies of the auction catalog, the one at Avery contains the prices reached per volume, presumably written in Joseph’s hand (below right).

The recent acquisition of a book from Davis’ own library – as noted in the auction catalog for his books, long held by Avery’s Drawings + Archives – is a neat, full circle moment for the special collections at Avery. While Davis’ work as an architect is well represented in the archival material held by D+A, his copy of The origin of building now in Avery Classics allows the library to also represent him as a lover and collector of books.