Contrasts, A W N Pugin important work on architecture, rare first edition, 1836

Title: Contrasts; or, a Parallel between the Noble Edifices of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, and similar buildings of the present day; shewing the present decay of taste: Accompanied by appropriate Text. Author: Augustus Welby Northcote Pugin Publication: Printed for the author, and published by him, at St Marie's Grange, near Salisbury Wiltshire, 1836 Very scarce copy of this seminal work by Pugin, which first set out his crusade for Gothic Architecture, and brought him notoriety, not only for its polemical style but also for his satirising of leading architects of the day. 4to (285 x 210 mm). iv, 50 pp. 16 engraved plates, including frontispiece, engraved title page and colophon, all with tissue guards except between frontispiece and title page. In original green cloth, no letters. Binding sound but there is a 3 inch split to the front joint, head and tail of spine and corners very slightly rubbed through. The plates are foxed to a greater or lesser degree, some just in the margins (please see images and ask for more if you wish). The text is generally clean and not foxed. Owner's ink name, H O Cruikshank, Magdalen College Oxford, on front pastedown.