DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.29898#0009
EDITOB/S PBEFACE TO THE THIPD EDITION.
A sketch of the life of the late Mr. James P'ergusson, and an article
by Prof. Kerr on the peculiar qualifications with which he was endowed
for the position he took as an architectural historian, having appeared
in the preface of the third edition of the “ History of the Modern
Styles of Architecture,” published in 1891, it is not necessary to do
more than refer to them. A brief summary, however, of the several
works he published on the History of the Architectural Styles may
possibly be of some interest here as a record.
Mr. Pergusson’s first work dealing with the History of the Styles of
Architecture was a large octavo volume, published in 1849, under the
title of “ An Historical Enquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in
Art, more especially with reference to Architecture.” About one-third
of the volume was devoted to an introduction, to which Mr. Pergusson
attached so much importance that, in his preface he stated he con-
sidered it to be the text, and the rest of the work (viz., the description
of the various styles) merely the illustration of what was there stated.
The pith of this introduction was subsequently published in his later
works, and a valuable chapter added to it on “ Ethnography as Applied
to Architecture.” The woi’k contained only the history of the Early
Styles from Egyptian to Roman, but it had been the intention of its
author to treat of the Christian, Pagan, and Modern Styles of Archi-
tecture in subsequent volumes.
This intention was never carried out, but the book formed the basis
of another work published in 1855, entitled, “ The Handbook of
Architecture,” which included the history of the Indian, Chinese,
Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Saracenic Styles, in
the first volume, and of Christian Art in the second. A second edition,
a reprint only of this, appeared in 1859, and shortly afterwards, in 1862,
a third volume was published, dealing with the History of the Modern
A sketch of the life of the late Mr. James P'ergusson, and an article
by Prof. Kerr on the peculiar qualifications with which he was endowed
for the position he took as an architectural historian, having appeared
in the preface of the third edition of the “ History of the Modern
Styles of Architecture,” published in 1891, it is not necessary to do
more than refer to them. A brief summary, however, of the several
works he published on the History of the Architectural Styles may
possibly be of some interest here as a record.
Mr. Pergusson’s first work dealing with the History of the Styles of
Architecture was a large octavo volume, published in 1849, under the
title of “ An Historical Enquiry into the True Principles of Beauty in
Art, more especially with reference to Architecture.” About one-third
of the volume was devoted to an introduction, to which Mr. Pergusson
attached so much importance that, in his preface he stated he con-
sidered it to be the text, and the rest of the work (viz., the description
of the various styles) merely the illustration of what was there stated.
The pith of this introduction was subsequently published in his later
works, and a valuable chapter added to it on “ Ethnography as Applied
to Architecture.” The woi’k contained only the history of the Early
Styles from Egyptian to Roman, but it had been the intention of its
author to treat of the Christian, Pagan, and Modern Styles of Archi-
tecture in subsequent volumes.
This intention was never carried out, but the book formed the basis
of another work published in 1855, entitled, “ The Handbook of
Architecture,” which included the history of the Indian, Chinese,
Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Sassanian, and Saracenic Styles, in
the first volume, and of Christian Art in the second. A second edition,
a reprint only of this, appeared in 1859, and shortly afterwards, in 1862,
a third volume was published, dealing with the History of the Modern