The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe 1795-1798 (Series 1): Volume 1 1-1, 1795-1797 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Ser)

Arts & Photography

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry

Architecture

Yale University Press

The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe 1795-1798 (Series 1): Volume 2 1-2, 1797-1798 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Ser)

Biographies & Memoirs

Regional U.S.

The publication of the Virginia Journals in two volumes inaugurates the Yale edition of The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a projected ten-volume selection from the writings, watercolors, and architectural and engineering drawings of the father of the American architectural profession. Latrobe (1764-1820), English-born architect of the United States Capitol under Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, set the course for a vast amount on nineteenth-century American architecture with such works as the Capitol, the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore Cathedral. A pioneering engineer as well, he designed the nation’s first comprehensive steam-powered waterworks in Philadelphia. Latrobe combined his professional concerns with an astonishing range of other interests and an acutely observant eye. His papers form one of the finest existing literary and pictorial descriptions of the young republic. The first two volumes comprise eleven journals written between 1795, when Latrobe arrived in America, and 1798. They are supplemented by selections from his sketchbooks and correspondence and his “Essay on Landscape,” an illustrated guide to elementary watercolor. The journals record Latrobe’s personal and professional life during his Virginia sojourn and contain many interesting anecdotes and observations on Virginia society, manners, and politics, as well as descriptions of topography, flora, and fauna. In addition, they reveal the means by which a highly educated and engaging European accommodated himself to a new society and the democratic spirit. These volumes also include a biographical appendix giving detailed sketches of the people Latrobe encountered. It constitutes an important scholarly resource and tool for both genealogists and historians of collective biography and social stratification.

The Virginia Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1795-1798 (2 Volumes)

Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820) was one of the founders of the engineering profession in America. This book is the first detailed treatment of his engineering projects as well as a pioneering attempt to make available a collection of early American technical drawings. The excellence of Latrobe's draftsmanship and the rarity of comprehensive graphic records for early American engineering make this collection a particularly valuable addition to the history of technology.

The Engineering Drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (Series 2): Volume 1 2-1, The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

Science & Math

Technology

Benjamin Henry Latrobe was best known as the architect of the United States Capitol. His career as surveyor, architect, engineer took him to many places in the US, and in close contact with Thomas Jefferson. Also known for designing the Richmond Penitentiary, the Bank of Pennsylvania and the Baltimore Cathedral, as well as the historical study and annotation of the Susquehanna River Survey Map. Latrobe played a major role in the creation of the American technological community, publishing many scientific papers, technical reports, newspaper and journal articles and essays. Latrobe moved from Richmond to Philadelphia in late 1798 to execute his first great commission, the Bank of Pennsylvania. He sporadically wrote in the journals printed in this volume while in such cities as Philadelphia, New Castle, Baltimore and Washington, D.C., where he served as architect of the U.S. Capitol. He kept journals more regularly while in New Orleans during the last year of his life - he died in 1820. In addition to recording daily events, Latrobe made observations on a wide variety of topics, from the origins of yellow fever to slavery and black music in New Orleans. His pen-and-ink drawings and watercolors compliment the text.

The Journals of Benjamin Henry Latrobe 1799-1820 (Series 1): Volume 3 1-3, From Philadelphia to New Orleans (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

This volume is the first of what will be three volumes of selected correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), America’s first professional architect and engineer.Of the 235 documents in this volume the majority are letters to and from Latrobe, interspersed with his pamphlets, newspaper articles, government reports, and scientific papers.  The first section traces Latrobe’s formative years in England and Germany and his early professional career in England before his emigration to America in 1795.  By 1800 Latrobe had designed the Virginia State Penitentiary, the Bank of Pennsylvania, and the Philadelphia Waterworks.  In 1803 President Jefferson appointed him surveyor of the public buildings in Washington, and thereafter he began to take on more important commissions.  Thus a great deal of this volume is given over to Latrobe’s work on the Capitol and the President’s House as well as his work as surveyor and engineer of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal Company.  In 1804 Latrobe accepted an appointment as engineer to the Navy Department and also began work on his monumental Baltimore Cathedral. This book comprehends both Latrobe’s personal and professional beginnings and at least the genesis of the major works of his professional career. 

The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (Series 4): Volume 1 4-1, 1784-1804 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

This volume is devoted to More's principal humanist writings other than his Latin poems and Utopia. It contains the first truly critical edition and a vigorous new English translation of More's four influential Latin letter-treatises on rhetoric, religious and social reform, and the methodological framework of Renaissance humanism. It also contains a entirely new text and translation of More's Historia Richardi Tertii.

The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (Series 4): Volume 2 4-2, 1805-1810 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

This is the last of three volumes of selected correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764-1820), America’s first professional architect and engineer.  Covering the final decade of Latrobe’s life, it includes about 375 documents, comprised of letters (mostly from Latrobe), government reports, pamphlets, and newspaper articles.The years from 1811 to 1820 included both setbacks and triumphs for Latrobe.  On the one hand we learn about the ill-fated New Orleans Waterworks project, during which his son Henry died of yellow fever; bitter disputes with Robert Fulton over Latrobe’s service as agent of the Ohio Steam Boat Company; and acrimonious relations with the commissioners who oversaw Latrobe’s rebuilding of the U.S. Capital after the War of 1812.  On the other hand, there were such successful projects as the Baltimore Cathedral and St. John’s Church in Washington, D.C., and a gratifying collaboration with Thomas Jefferson on plans for the University of Virginia.  Latrobe thrived artistically if not financially in America, and he was instrumental in bringing a sense of grandeur to American architecture.  This volume of Latrobe’s papers, like the others, is a tribute to the lasting influence he exerted on the culture of the young republic.

The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (Series 4): Volume 3 4-3, 1811-1820 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

This two-volume set is a comprehensive catalogue of the architectural drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, a key figure in the birth of the architectural profession in the United States. All Latrobe's architectural projects are considered in detail, and each project is illustrated with his surviving drawings. Among the works discussed are the U.S. Capitol, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the Baltimore Cathedral, the Virginia State Penitentiary, the Stephen Decatur house, and numerous other commissions for public and private buildings. The volumes also analyze Latrobe's style of architectural drawing, trace the evolution of his technique, and place his graphic legacy in the contexts of his own architectural work and international currents at the end of the eighteenth century. The Architectural Drawings represents the final publication of the Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, an editorial project launched more than two decades ago under the direction of editor-in-chief Edward C. Carter II. The series as a whole also includes volumes on Latrobe's correspondence, journals, engineering drawings, and watercolor views of American scenes.

The Architectural Drawings of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (Series 2): Volume 2 2-2, Parts 1 & 2 (The Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe Series)

History

Americas

The Journal Of Latrobe: Being The Notes And Sketches Of An Architect, Naturalist And Traveler In The United States From 1797-1820 (1905)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Humor & Entertainment

Kessinger Publishing

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