Downing's Successors > A.J. Bicknell & Co.
By the 1870s, there were dozens of pattern books being published each year and disseminated throughout the country by railroad from the publishing centers of New York, Philadelphia and Boston. One prolific publisher in this period was A.J. Bicknell of New York. Bicknell was himself a builder but discovered that selling books about building was more profitable. The Bicknell catalog shown here in the two images on the left was a small, cheap publication advertising many books of designs.
The lists of architectural pattern books available through Bicknell included:
- Hussey’s National Cottage Architecture
- Atwood’s Country & Suburban Residences
- Cummings & Miller’s Architectural Details
- Wither’s Church Architecture
All of these pattern-book authors owed a debt to A.J. Downing for making architecture a subject of interest among the middle-classes, and for popularizing the idea that the design of a home, church, or store was a consumer’s choice.
Books by the builders Cummings and Miller were also published by A.J. Bicknell & Company and offered for sale through Bicknell’s advertising pamphlets.
Cover. A.J. Bicknell & Co., Catalogue of new books on architecture, carpentry and building, 1874. AZ200 B4753
Select list of architectural books and journals. A.J. Bicknell & Co., Catalogue of new books on architecture..., 1874. AZ200 B4753
Cover. Cummings & Miller, Architecture by Cummings & Miller, containing designs for street and store fronts, villas suburban houses and cottages ..., 1867. AA737 C92 C923