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In all the several / Parts of ARCHITECTURE, / But also containing
the / THEORY and PRACTICE / Of the / Various Branches thereof,
requisite to be known by /

Masons,
Carpenters,
Joiners,
Bricklayers,
Plaisterers,
Painters,
Glaiziers,
Smiths,
Turners,
Carvers,
Statuaries,
Plumbers, &c.

Also Necessary Problems in / Arithmetic, Geometry, Mechanics,
Perspective, / Hydraulics, and other Mathematical Sciences. / Together
with / The Quantities, Proportions, and Prices of all Kinds of
Materials / used in Building; with Directions for Chusing, Preparing,
/ and Using them: The several Proportions of the Five Orders of /
Architecture, and all their Members, according to Vitruvius, / Palladio,
Scamozzi, Vignola, M. Le Clerc, &c. / With Rules for the
Valuation of Houses, and the Expence calculated / of Erecting any
Fabrick, Great or Small. / The Whole Illustrated with more than Two
Hundred Figures, many of / them curiously Engraven on CopperPlates:
Being a Work of great / Use, not only to Artificers, but likewise
to Gentlemen, and others, / concerned in BUILDING, &c. /
Faithfully Digested from the most Approved Writers on these Subjects.
/ In TWO VOLUMES. / LONDON: / Printed for A. Bettesworth
and C. Hitch, at the Red-Lion in Pater-noster- / Row; and S. Austen,
at the Angel and Bible in St. Paul's Church-Yard. / M. dcc. xxxiv.

8vo. Engraved frontispiece (1 leaf); title page (1 unnumbered p.); endorsement
(1 unnumbered p.); preface (4 leaves); text, with 15 engraved
plates inserted, and numerous woodcut figures (242 leaves).

Vol. II. THE / Builder's Dictionary / . . . / Vol. II / . . .

8vo. Endorsement (1 leaf); title page (1 leaf); text with numerous
woodcut figures (see Plate VII) and 18 engraved plates inserted (247
leaves and 1 unnumbered p.); advertisement (1 unnumbered p.); errata
(1 unnumbered p.).

The endorsement says:

January 11. 1731/4.

We have perused these Two Volumes of the Builder's Dictionary, and do
think they contain a great deal of useful Knowledge in the Building Business.

Nicholas Hawksmoor,

John James

James Gibbs.

Plate VII. From No. 15. "The Proportions of the Ionic Order, by equal Parts"
(Vol. II, p. IO).

While the title page describes the contents of the book, the preface
contains much sound advice and is certainly worthy of the endorsement
of Hawksmoor, James (see No. 37), and Gibbs (Nos. 48, 49a, and 49b):

Architecture is one of those Arts which Necessity has made universal:
From the Time that Men first felt the Inclemencies of the Seasons, it had its
Beginning; and accordingly it has spread wheresoever the Severities of the
Climate demanded Shelter or Shade. . . .

As Distress was the Parent of it, so Convenience was the first Object it
regarded: Mangificence and Decoration were the Result of long Refinement,
and designed to flatter the Ostentation of the Owners. . . .

'Tis easy to conclude from hence, That Convenience should still be the
Builder's first View: Every Structure is raised to answer some particular End;
and the most obvious and simple Means are always the best to obtain it. . . .
Many an excellent Workman has proved himself a mere Mechanick, and
many a surprising Genius, that he was ignorant of the very Principles of the
Art he made it his Profession to understand. To make a thorough Master,
both must be united; for the Propriety of a Plan is seldom attended to, and
seldomer understood; and a glaring Pile of beauty, without Use, but mocks
the Possessor with a Dream of Grandeur he can never enjoy.

The Design of this Dictionary is chiefly, for the Assistance of such,
who study the Mechanical Part of Building, and will be of the greatest Service
to all Professions that have any Relation to it: The Elements of the Art
will be fully explained, and in so regular a Method too, that it can hardly be
in the Power even of a Novice to mistake. Neither is it impossible that the most
finish'd Artist, or most perfect Critick, should stand in need of its Help: It
will serve, at least, as a kind of Remembrancer, or Common Place-Book,
where all their Knowledge lies regularly digested, and may be referred to
with Ease and Pleasure.

To do this more effectually, all the valuable Authors which have wrote
on the Subject have been examin'd, consulted, and reduced into Method and
Consistency with each other: We may quote a great Variety of eminent
Names; but as Le Clerc has been referred to the most, we shall content ourselves
with his Authority only, and recommend the Steps he, in particular,
has pointed out,[9] as the surest Methods to attain to any Degree of Perfection
in this Art. . . .

But though Genius cannot be learn'd, it may be improv'd: And though
the Gift of Designing is born with a Man, it may be methodized by Study
and Observation.

The principal Points, therefore, that the Designer should have in view,
are first Convenience, . . . and then Beauty and Magnificence. . . .

Simplicity is generally understood to be the Groundwork of Beauty,
and Decoration of Magnificence.

Entries in the Dictionary often run to several pages, as in the case
of that for Water, which is thirty-eight pages long, or sometimes are
comparatively simple, as follows:

Rule of Three

Rule of Proportion

commonly call'd the Golden Rule is a Rule which teaches how to find a
fourth Proportional Number to three others given.

Sowerby points out that Kimball (on p. 134) proves that Jefferson
used this book before 1771. Jefferson sold his own copy to Congress and
then ordered this book for the University in the section on "Architecture"
of the want list. Though not directly associated with Jefferson, the
library's present copy is from the books of Joseph C. Cabell, one of the
original Visitors of the University, and is thus intimately associated with
the beginnings of the University.

U. Va.

*NA 31.B82.1734

Sowerby 4187

[9]

The steps pointed out are arithmetic, geometry, masonry, levelingg, hydraulics,
mechanics, sketching, drawing, and the "Science of Designing." See Le Clerc
(No. 69).

University of Virginia Library

15. Builder's Dictionary.

Plate VI. From No. 14. "Vue du Pont Royal" at Genoa.

Plate VII. From No. 15. "The Proportions of the Ionic Order, by equal Parts" (Vol. II, p. IO).

Plate VII. From No. 15. "The Proportions of the Ionic Order, by equal Parts"
(Vol. II, p. IO).