Architects’ Libraries

Architects read for many reasons. Some regard books as practical tools like the compass and rule, to be consulted for narrow professional needs. Vitruvius instead believed an architect should know science, history, mathematics, medicine, music, and philosophy. He was a learned builder, and his successors responded by expanding their libraries to buttress their education in remote fields. A leviathan collector like Nicodemus Tessin the Younger (1654-1728) amassed a bounty of drawings, prints, and books in order to represent all provinces in the realm of knowledge. In 1712 he published an inventory that reflected Vitruvius’ prescription, with multiple titles in all subjects. Yet Tessin's collection was the swansong of the seventeenth century. The Age of Enlightenment presented new challenges to the bibliophile. Knowledge raced in all directions, bringing new light to poorly understood realms of science and mathematics, new rigor to the study of politics, and new fervor to discourses on art and architecture. Learned men struggled to keep abreast of rapid advances, from Lavoisier's isolation of the elements to Herschel's discovery of Uranus. And the republic of letters grew more populous, accelerating the exchange and dissemination of information. Books fueled this explosion of knowledge. Titles poured forth in growing numbers, making information more accessible as they simultaneously made the ideal of universal knowledge more remote. Even though a number of architects owned, and contributed to, Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, buying books in order to possess all knowledge was no longer possible for even the most dedicated bibliophile. With the Vitruvian standard out of reach, the question arises as to how books were collected and used by architects of the eighteenth century. The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of reading patterns and habits during the century, discuss the comparative sizes of architects’ libraries, how these books contributed to an architect's education, and explore how they used them in their professional practice. While many architects will be mentioned, the discussion will return to three of the best-documented: John Soane (1753-1837), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), and Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-73).