Mechanization Takes Command. A Contribution to Anonymous History.

First edition, from the library of the architects David and Mary Medd, this copy gifted to them by Hertfordshire County Council. The book had a profound influence on the Institute of Contemporary Arts's "Independent Group", which itself influenced the Pop Art movement. Mary Medd (1907-2005) is best known for her public buildings and was an advocate of social housing reform. David Medd (1917-2009) worked on school buildings for the Ministry of Education. The couple met while working at Hertfordshire County Council, who gifted them this copy upon their wedding in May 1949. A letter from the council is loosely inserted, along with a presentation label affixed to the front free endpaper signed by numerous employees, including the architects William Tatton Brown, A. W. Cleeve Barr, and Oliver Cox. A full list is available upon request. "The enterprise and leadership shown by some local authorities are among the most encouraging things about post-war architecture in Britain. They are seen to special advantage in school building. In the years after the war, the Hertfordshire County Council produced a series of schools that were among the most advanced, and aesthetically the most attractive, of any contemporary buildings in Britain" (Richards, p. 118). J. M. Richards, An Introduction to Modern Architecture, 1962. Octavo. Half-tone photographic illustrations, diagrams. Original black cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. Relevant newspaper clippings loosely inserted. Cloth marked, spine ends bumped, foxing to edges and endpapers; jacket unclipped, spine toned and scuffed, chips and tears to extremities, tape repair to verso: a very good copy in like jacket.…