Principles of Perspective, Practically and Geometrically Developed, with Particular Reference to Drawing from Nature.
New York: Mason Brothers, 1857. First edition. An advanced drawing guide demonstrating how to use geometry, perspective, reflection, and shading in art, particularly in the rendering of architecture. Hermann Krüsi (1817 – 1903) was passionate about properly preparing students for careers in industrial art, and the present work is one of his titles on the topic. Krüsi also published A Progressive Course of Inventive Drawing (1850), co-authored by W.J. Whitaker, which presented a beginning art curriculum for younger students. Though Inventive Drawing and Principles of Perspective were not intended as entries in a series, the present work can be seen as a second step for older students to hone their drawing abilities. With fifty-eight large and elaborate text diagrams demonstrating geometry, perspective, reflection, and shading in art. Fading, edgewear, and some soiling to cloth. University library bookplate, dated 1901, to front pastedown. Light foxing and some toning to leaves. A good copy of an uncommon book by an important art educator inspired by Pestalozzi and Froebel. Publisher’s gray cloth titled in gilt. Octavo. 64 pp. Item #17335
Krüsi was an important educator inspired by the work of Froebel and Pestalozzi, the latter of whom had been a friend of his father’s and, in Krüsi’s words, had “acted as one of my godfathers,” (Krüsi’s Recollections of My Life, p. 7). Krüsi published the present work shortly before educator E.A. Sheldon (1823 – 1897) recruited him to work at the Oswego Primary Teachers’ Training School. The work received a positive review in the Massachusetts Teacher, and Journal of Home and School Education (October 1857): “The arrangement is natural and systematic, and the style easy and agreeable; in the statement of principles the author is clear and direct; he deals in no abstractions, but gives the results of extended research and a large experience…We regard it as one of the best (if not the best) manuals of the kind yet published,” (p. 496). Krüsi also published Pestalozzi: His Life, Work, and Influence (1875), plus other educational texts.
Price: $300.00