"This catalogue complements an exhibition of books generously given or carefully purchased to help Buffalo grow into a great metropolitan center. Collectively these books formed a comprehensive source of knowledge with which the Young Men's Association, the Buffalo Public and Grosvenor libraries--unified in 1953 as the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library--sought to educate architects and the public in the traditions that influenced our built environment. These volumes comprise only a portion of the architectural books housed in the library's Rare Book collection, which is one of the oldest and most extensive in an American public library. They are as much a part of Western New York's cultural heritage as its museums, parks, concert halls, theaters, and historic buildings. These enduring chronicles of the world's greatest architectural ideas supplemented the imaginations of the architects who shaped Buffalo. The ideas and images in these beautiful volumes helped build the buildings and landscapes that transformed Buffalo from a frontier village to a national metropolis."--Book flap.