While doing research in 1969 for the US Commission of Fine Arts, Reiff (art history, State U. of New York-Fredonia) noticed that some rare sophisticated architectural features, such as arches framing the ground-floor windows, were paralleled in contemporary builders' manuals. That discovery turned his research interest to the role of printed books in architectural design. He reports here on architectural books and their impact, beginning in 1550 in England and moving generally in chronological order through the catalog and mail-order house companies and designs of the 1920s to 1940s. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)