Paul Collins points out a fantastic-sounding book on his always-entertaining blog: T. A. Richardson’s The Art of Architectural Modelling in Paper, a Victorian guide to constructing detailed architectural models out of paper. Amazon.com can’t find any copies, but Bookfinder turns up a couple. Google Books comes to the rescue, as the book was published in 1859: they have a complete version in reasonable quality – I can’t tell if all the illustrations are there, but the ones that are make me want to start constructing paper and wood models of houses and railroad stations. Be sure to notice the advertising at the end of the book, where there’s a “Catalogue of Rudimentary, Scientific, Educational, and Classical Works for Colleges, High and Ordinary Schools and Self-Instruction; also for Mechanics’ Institutions, Free Libraries, &c., &c., published by James S. Virtue, City Road & Ivy Lane,” most of which look fantastic.
