Le Corbusier: Carnets 1 – 4.

(Paris): Editions Herscher / Dessain et Toira, 1981 – 1982.  First editions.  Square quartos.  Four volumes.  Volume 1: 1914-1948, volume 2: 1950-1954, volume 3: 1954-1957, volume 4: 1957-1964.  Commentary by Francois de Franclieu.  Complete edition of all the Carnets of Le Corbusier. Architect, urbanist, painter and sculptor, Le Corbusier was gifted with an extraordinary capacity for invention. Over sixty years of uninterrupted activity he travelled extensively in Europe, the Middle East and the Americas.  In approximately 1907, at the time of his first voyages, he developed the habit of constantly carrying a small sketchbook. These notebooks were to become the fundamental Carnets, filled with his notes and sketches: impressions, architectural details, landscapes, figures on which he drew for his ideas and his architectural and urban projects. In 1955 he decided to number all the notebooks, using the form he called “la nomenclature”.  At the time of his death all 63 Carnets were packed into a suitcase, over 4000 pages, numbered from A1 to T70 and dated from 1914 to 1964. This is the first publication of the original notebooks.  All copies in near fine condition in dust jacket.