DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32038#0014
VI
REMARKS ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,
neighbourhood. # Several drawings were then made for the intended
publication; and a volume, to be entitled, “ Specimens of Gothic
Architecture,” was immediately undertaken.-j- A short essay, on the
decline of the Gothic style, in this country, and the successive attempts
which led to its revival in modern times, was prefixed to the descrip-
tion of subjects represented in the engravings; and a “ Glossary of
Technical Terms, descriptive of Gothic Architecture,” selected from
various ancient authorities, and hitherto unexplained, was annexed to
the volume; together with some prefatory observations on that sub-
ject. The favourable reception of the “Specimens” led to the under-
taking of a second volume, under the same title, and of corresponding
character, which was completed at the close of the year 1822.^ In
1825, and the two following years, Mr. Pugin was engaged in the
publication of a series of engraved “Specimens of the Architectural
Antiquities of Normandy.” This work displays, amidst other curious
subjects, some rich pieces of domestic architecture, of a style widely
differing in details from any contemporary examples to be seen in
this country. It was an arduous effort to bring home to the English
student, some of the many varieties of the Gothic architecture of the
* Some of these were engraved for the Fifth, or Chronological, volume of Britton’s Architectural
Antiquities, which was then in a course of publication.
-j' About two years before that time, Mr. Pugin had produced, in conjunetion with Mr. F. Mac-
kenzie, a volume containing sixty-one Plates, entitled, “ Specimens of Gothic Architecture,” chiefly
selected from the ancient buildings at Oxford. This was a respectable publication, and approached
nearly to the idea of the work under consideration; but the subjects being drawn in perspective,
were not well adapted to imitation; and several of them were of a description merely curious.
j: All the unsold copies of the first volume of the Specimens, together with the Glossary, and
some prints, &c. of the second volume, were destroyed by a fire, which consumed the house of the
late Mr. J. Taylor, in Fligh Holborn, on the night of 23d November, 1822. A second edition, with
some additions and corrections, was immediately published; and another impression of the whole
work has since been made. The Glossary was published, with an express reservation of the right of
the author to enlarge and publish it separately, if he chose to do so. Many articles in the original
manuscript of the Glossary were abridged, in order to suit the prescribed limits of the volume to
which it was annexed. In a more complete edition, these will be given at length, with much addi-
tional information on this very curious subject.
REMARKS ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE,
neighbourhood. # Several drawings were then made for the intended
publication; and a volume, to be entitled, “ Specimens of Gothic
Architecture,” was immediately undertaken.-j- A short essay, on the
decline of the Gothic style, in this country, and the successive attempts
which led to its revival in modern times, was prefixed to the descrip-
tion of subjects represented in the engravings; and a “ Glossary of
Technical Terms, descriptive of Gothic Architecture,” selected from
various ancient authorities, and hitherto unexplained, was annexed to
the volume; together with some prefatory observations on that sub-
ject. The favourable reception of the “Specimens” led to the under-
taking of a second volume, under the same title, and of corresponding
character, which was completed at the close of the year 1822.^ In
1825, and the two following years, Mr. Pugin was engaged in the
publication of a series of engraved “Specimens of the Architectural
Antiquities of Normandy.” This work displays, amidst other curious
subjects, some rich pieces of domestic architecture, of a style widely
differing in details from any contemporary examples to be seen in
this country. It was an arduous effort to bring home to the English
student, some of the many varieties of the Gothic architecture of the
* Some of these were engraved for the Fifth, or Chronological, volume of Britton’s Architectural
Antiquities, which was then in a course of publication.
-j' About two years before that time, Mr. Pugin had produced, in conjunetion with Mr. F. Mac-
kenzie, a volume containing sixty-one Plates, entitled, “ Specimens of Gothic Architecture,” chiefly
selected from the ancient buildings at Oxford. This was a respectable publication, and approached
nearly to the idea of the work under consideration; but the subjects being drawn in perspective,
were not well adapted to imitation; and several of them were of a description merely curious.
j: All the unsold copies of the first volume of the Specimens, together with the Glossary, and
some prints, &c. of the second volume, were destroyed by a fire, which consumed the house of the
late Mr. J. Taylor, in Fligh Holborn, on the night of 23d November, 1822. A second edition, with
some additions and corrections, was immediately published; and another impression of the whole
work has since been made. The Glossary was published, with an express reservation of the right of
the author to enlarge and publish it separately, if he chose to do so. Many articles in the original
manuscript of the Glossary were abridged, in order to suit the prescribed limits of the volume to
which it was annexed. In a more complete edition, these will be given at length, with much addi-
tional information on this very curious subject.