PERSPECTA 5
THE YALE ARCHITECTURE JOURNAL
Edwin Close II [Editor]
Edwin Close II [Editor]: PERSPECTA 5: THE YALE ARCHITECTURE JOURNAL. New Haven, CT: Departments of Architecture and Design, Yale University, 1959. Square Quarto. Perfect-bound and side-stitched stiff, printed wrappers. 80 pp. Text and illustrations. Design by Holland R. Melson, Jr. Wrappers lightly worn and rubbed, but a very good copy.
9.5 x 11.75 journal with 80 pages heavily illustrated with original artwork, photography, plans and diagrams with a few trade advertisements. Limited circulation and uncertain financial backing have combined to make the early issues of Perspecta notoriously difficult to locate. An excellent opportunity to acquire a significant piece of American architectural history.
- Architectural Coxcombery or the Desire for Ornament by Edgar Kaufman, Jr.
- The Engineer and the Artist by Mario G. Salvadori
- The Design Process by Edward Larabee Barnes
- A Letter by Mathew Nowicki
- Notes on Architecture Today: King Lui Wu (7 pages with 10 black and white illustrations and a fold-out of the Dorothea Rudnick House, New Haven, CT)
- Indian Vernacular Architecture: Wai and Cochin by William Wurster and Catherine Bauer
- The Client and the Architect: A Series of Humorous Illustrations by Robert Osborn
- Design for Tomorrow by Paul Nelson
- An Experimental Theatre by George Izenour
- Louis Sullivan's Architectural Ornament: A Brief Note Concerning Humanist Design in the Age of Force by Vincent Scully, Jr.
Founded in 1952, Perspecta is the oldest student-edited architectural journal in the United States and the first that devoted its pages to the artistic, historical and theoretical aspects of architecture. From its earliest issues, essays published in Perspecta changed the way people thought about architecture. Highly recommended for both form and content.
"The publication of Perspecta marked the beginning of a new kind of critical discourse about architecture," said Robert A. M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture. "Although Perspecta was never a mass-market publication, its impact on the field has belied its numbers. The journal was -- and continues to be -- an intellectual showpiece for the Yale School of Architecture and an important presence in the design community."