Treasures of Taliesin: Seventy-Seven Unbuilt Designs [Hardcover]

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer (Author), Frank Lloyd Wright (Designer)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Here we have something old and something new in the field of Frank Lloyd Wright studies. The old is a revised edition of Treasures of Taliesin (LJ 10/1/85), a coffee-table selection of unbuilt designs spanning Wright's lengthy career. Pfeiffer, a Wright apprentice and director of archives at Taliesin West, presents 77 unbuilt projects, which arguably reveal Wright's visionary imagination to a greater degree than do the buildings actually realized. The text is unapologetically laudatory, often beguiling with anecdotes about famous and eccentric clients. Pfeiffer's later Frank Lloyd Wright Drawings (Abrams, 1990) offers a larger sampling of the master's output but is not as focused. The new Frank Lloyd Wright: Europe and Beyond is a collection of ground-breaking essays exploring Wright's influence abroad, edited by Wright scholar Alofsin. He has assembled nine international experts to probe Wright's influence in Europe, the Americas, Iraq, and Japan. Their research corrects misconceptions and oversimplifications that have inevitably grown up around a figure as legendary as Wright. Conclusions, however, are tentative, with further investigation called for. Public libraries already owning Treasures need not purchase the new edition, which is not extensively revised; those owning Treasures and/or Drawings should make sure they have Pfeiffer's well-illustrated survey Frank Lloyd Wright: The Masterworks (Rizzoli, 1993). Academic libraries will want to add Europe and Beyond and should be aware of Alofsin's resurrection of the influential 1910 "Wasmuth monograph," Studies and Executed Buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright (Rizzoli, 1998), which introduced many European architects to Wright.
-David Soltesz, Fairview Park Regional Lib., OH
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: Pomegranate Communications; 2nd edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764910418
• ISBN-13: 978-0764910418
• Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 10.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,247 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From the Publisher, November 21, 2005

By 

Earl R. Sutton "earlsutton" (Detroit, MI, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Treasures of Taliesin: Seventy-Seven Unbuilt Designs (Hardcover)

"Treasures of Taliesin presents 106 drawings of 77 Frank Lloyd Wright buildings that were never built--buildings that Wright believed were his most interesting works. This revised, updated, an[d] newly designed edition includes new text from Bruce Pfeiffer, Director of Archives at The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Pfeiffer draws on his long association with Wright to describe the circumstances surrounding the germination of each project, characterizes the personalities involved, and explains why the work was not completed. The stories include political intrigue and assassination, as well as providing glimpses of personalities such as Mike Todd, and Ayn Rand, and a poignant recollection of Marilyn Monroe, who wanted an entire floor of her planned home with Arthur Miller for their children. There is even a residence for a mysterious client whose identity was known only to Wright.

"In his careful selection of projects, Pfeiffer has created a visual history of Wright's accomplishments over a career that stretched from 1895 to 1959. Treasures of Taliesin ranges in scope from the minutely detailed--Wright's admonition to Franklin Watkins to "use cadmium plated screws with a electrical screwdriver" to secure the cypress siding of his studio-residence--to the uniquely extravagant: a description of the 26-foot drawing for the Mile High Building, exhibited in 1956 to the astonished world. This collection of drawings is both a feast and a fascinating overview of Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural genius.

"164 pages, 106 color reproductions, 13 x 10". Casebound book with dust jacket. ISBN: 0-7649-1041-8."--© Pomegranate