Contrasts. Or a Parallel Between the Noble Edifices of the Middle Ages and the Corresponding Buildings of the Present Day.
London: Charles Dolman, 1841. Second Edition. Second edition of Pugin’s groundbreaking work which arguably defined the Gothic Revival in architecture.
With a total of 20 plates, an addition of 5 plates (and omission of 1) from the first edition, this second edition adds the notable plates whereby Pugin shows contrasting views of English Catholic towns in 1440 versus 1880, and ancient homes for the poor versus the modern-Victorian panopticon workhouses, and in which he of course laments and “exposed the degrated [sic] state of architecture” after the Middle Ages.
The “most important addition to Contrasts [second edition] was a pair of plates. . . These plates made an argument more powerful than Pugin would ever make in words.” Hill, God’s Architect (2007, pg. 248).
4to. v, 104pp. + 20 plates. Belcher A3.2. Scarce in commerce. Very good in modern quarter leather over marbled boards with minor scattered foxing throughout, primarily to edges. Item #298
Price: $900.00