Books by C. A. Busby
Introduction
Charles Augustin was born on the 27th June 1786, one of five surviving children to Dr and Mrs Thomas Busby. The Busbys passed on to their son a fascination with mechanics, mathematics, optics and an interest in the more radical views of whig politics, all of which stayed with Charles Augustin throughout his career.
Busby's training or pupillage as an 'architect engineer' was in the offices of Daniel Asher Alexander. At the time the profession was less specialised than now and this suited Busby's varied interests in subjects such as hydraulics and mechanics, as well as the more conventional design role associated with today's architects. Alexander's practice was prestigious and involved in major projects around the UK, such as the twenty-five year development of the London Dock Scheme at Wapping, the building of Dartmoor Prison and the conversion of the Queen's House at Greenwich into the Royal Naval Asylum for Children. Busby supplemented his training by attending evening classes at the Royal Academy, a privilege extended only to a few aspiring candidates. When he won the Academy's Gold Medal in 1807 at the age of twenty-one he was already regarded as a prodigy and looked set for a glittering future.
Busby's first publication
The following year, in 1808, Busby produced his first pattern book, 'A Series of Designs for Villas and Country Houses adapted with economy to the Comforts and to the Elegances of Modern Life with plans and explanations to each'. The introduction to this work, or Preface, was an essay he had written earlier for the 'London Architectural Society' - a group founded by Busby and several others articled architects in Alexander's offices. In this Busby expresses his fondness for the Greek Revival theme and the 'picturesque' and praises the "science of Architecture" while condemning what he saw as the 'trivial ornamentation' used by the likes of Robert Adam. The book was printed by a fellow Society member, JosiahTaylor, proprietor of the 'Architectural Library' in Holborn, London.
Of the 24 designs in the book at least one had been used for a construction by the time of its publication, this being for a villa in Nightingale Lane, Clapham Common. Busby wrote of the villa, "it is a fact I am allowed to state, that the numerous accommodations in this house have on inspection, surprised most persons who judged of it only by its external appearance".
It is not known how many copies of the book were published. However, it is clear that during the 19th century one copy found its way to Sarah Sophia Child, the Countess of Jersey. She appears to have bound the work together with Busby's other known publication 'A Collection of Designs for Modern Embellishments suitable to Parlours, Dining & Drawing Rooms, Folding Doors, Chimney Pieces, Verandas, Frizes, etc. on 25 Plates and a work by Joseph Gandy titled 'Villas and Country Houses' and entered the volume into her library at Osterley. In 1996, this volume came up for auction at Christie's in London and was purchased by a private collector. The following year, after hearing of the Town House project, the collector agreed to negotiated the sale of the work to the Brunswick Town Charitable Trust and thus, In 1997, with the help of a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and numerous private donations Busby's published works were secured for The Regency Town House archive.
Busby's second publication
An introduction to Busby's published works and their relatively recent acquisition by The Regency Town House is provided above. Here, it needs simply to be noted that Busby quickly followed his initial publication with a second titled 'A Collection of Designs for Modern Embellishments suitable to Parlours, Dining & Drawing Rooms, Folding Doors, Chimney Pieces, Verandas, Frizes, etc. on 25 Plates'. This was printed circa1810 and, as its title suggests, it focused on decorative details.
Many of the plates in 'Modern Embellishments' were hand coloured making it, as Dr Neil Bingham comments in his work 'C A Busby, The Regency Architect of Brighton and Hove', "one of the prettiest pattern books produced during the Regency period. Of course, the work was intended as an advert to promote Busby's capabilities in the fields of interior and exterior decoration.
Busby's designs were bold and confident. As Bingham notes:
"Busby advocated interiors decorated with patter and colour:
friezes of polka-dotted Greek key motifs on pink backgrounds; walls with elaborate plastered or painted decorative patterns of bright
pink and blue, oriental fantasies intermingling with contemporary French designs on surfaces of cool yellows and greens. Doorways were to
be heavily carved; the marble chimney pieces crowned by urns. Busby's finest achievements were his balcony designs of lattice-work, anthemions,
antefixae and other wrought iron delicacies."
