{"id":1415,"date":"2026-01-16T15:12:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.hertford.ox.ac.uk\/library-archives\/?p=1415"},"modified":"2026-01-21T12:42:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T12:42:42","slug":"newdesigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.hertford.ox.ac.uk\/library-archives\/newdesigns\/","title":{"rendered":"New designs: architectural books at Hertford"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Among the varied subjects covered in Hertford\u2019s rare books collection are\u00a0a number of\u00a0books on architecture.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0not unusual to find classic\u00a0editions of\u00a0art and architectural works\u00a0in\u00a0Oxford College libraries\u00a0\u2013\u00a0there are\u00a0numerous\u00a0copies, for example, of\u00a0Renaissance architect Andrea\u00a0Palladio\u2019s\u00a0Four books on architecture<\/em>\u00a0(Quattro libri\u00a0dell’architettura<\/em><\/a>)\u00a0located\u00a0in Oxford alone\u00a0(including an English translation of 1721 at Hertford<\/a>). Whether books were actively collected in this area at Hertford\u00a0(or\u00a0within the Magdalen Hall collections which Hertford acquired)\u00a0is a little hard to tell, but what is clear is that the collection\u00a0brought together by John Cale,\u00a0barrister,\u00a0and\u00a0alumnus of Hart Hall\u00a0(see\u00a0previous blog posts<\/a>) contained carefully chosen works which are\u00a0more\u00a0unusual\u00a0to find\u00a0in academic or university libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cale\u2019s library contained several books by architect William Halfpenny which are now extremely rare. Perhaps because they were intended as practical manuals or pattern books for homeowners and builders, they have simply not survived in the way classical textbooks on architecture have. Hertford is lucky to have four works by Halfpenny, all of which were probably from Cale\u2019s collection (the provenance is erased in some of the books but the bindings are consistent with others owned by him).  <\/p>\n\n\n

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One of Hertford’s Halfpenny books (SSS.5.6), showing the gold hatching on the edges and mottled calf leather that are common on Cale’s books <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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Inner cover annotated with ‘Cale’ (SSS.5.6)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Halfpenny was a British architect and land-surveyor working mainly in London, Bristol and Ireland during the middle of the 18th<\/sup> century. His first books were on practical applications of architecture, giving useful proportions and measurements for builders, though these were largely based on earlier works by Abraham Bosse. He also describes inventions for drawing instruments designed to help formulate proportions and to aid drawing in perspective (as seen in his Perspective made easy \u2026 Shewing the use of a new-invented scenographical protractor<\/a><\/em>, printed in 1731). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His later works reflect the increase in building activity during a peaceful time in Britain, particularly the appetite for medium-sized houses in his New and compleat system of architecture delineated<\/a><\/em>, printed in 1749, and drawing on his experience of houses he saw in Ireland designed by Edward Lovett Pearce and Richard Cassels. John Cale\u2019s copy of this work is now in Hertford College Library, along with his later works Six new designs for convenient farm-houses<\/a><\/em> and Rural architecture in the Chinese taste<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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