The American Builders Companion Or A System Of Architecture Particularly Adapted To The Present Style Of Building PDF Download

Excerpt from The American Builder's Companion: Or a System of Architecture, Particularly Adapted to the Present Style of Building; Illustrated With Seventy Copperplate Engravings Five years having elapsed since the first publication of the American Builder; during which time I have been constantly employed in drawing and executing plans for buildings. The experience of that time enables me to confirm some, and reject other former methods. Sixteen plates, which were in the first edition, I have laid aside, and have added twenty-nine new ones; which almost make this a new work. I have first laid down and explained such problems in Geometry, as are absolutely necessary to the well understanding of the subject. I have next treated on the origin of building, of mouldings, and of the orders. I have endeavoured to explain them so clearly and fully, that they cannot be misunderstood. At first they were selected from several authors, drawn at large, and wrought. After careful examination, such parts as I did not approve, were altered, by drawing and working them over again, and repeating this process several times, till after the most minute and careful examination of every part of the four first orders, I was confirmed in the opinion, that no further alterations for the better could be made; for the result of which experiments see these orders as they are severally laid down. I have given the Tuscan column eight diameters in height, in imitation of the Trajan and Antonian columns at Rome, which are of that height, and reckoned of the Tuscan order; and have regularly progressed, by giving the Doric nine, the Ionic ten, the Corinthian and composite eleven diameters each. I expect it will be said by some, who rigidly adhere to the proportions of the ancients, that the Tuscan column ought not to be but seven, the Doric eight, the Ionic nine, and the Corinthian and Composite ten Diameters each in height. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.