No one branch of antiquarian study has been pursued with greater success
during the last few years than that of Gothic Architecture; and, to this
success, no single work has contributed in any proportion equal to that
of the _Glossary of Terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic
Architecture_. Since the year 1836, in which this work first appeared,
no fewer than four large editions, each an improvement upon its
predecessor, have been called for and exhausted. The fifth edition is
now before us; and, we have no doubt, will meet, as it deserves, the
same extended patronage and success. When we announce that in this fifth
edition the text has been considerably augmented by the enlargement of
many of the old articles, as well as by the addition of many new ones,
among which Professor Willis has embodied a great part of his
_Architectural Nomenclature of the Middle Ages_; that the number of
woodcuts has been increased from eleven hundred to seventeen hundred;
and lastly, that the Index has been rendered far more complete, by
including in it the names of places mentioned, and the foreign synonyms;
we have done more to show its increased value than any mere words of
commendation would express. While the only omission that has been made,
namely, that of the utensils and ornaments of the Mediæval Church (with
the exception of the few such as altars, credences, piscinas, and
sedilias, which belong to architectural structure and decoration), is a
portion of the work which all must admit to have been foreign to a
Glossary of Architectural Terms, and must therefore agree to have been
wisely and properly left out. The work in its present form is, we
believe, unequalled in the architectural literature of Europe, for the
amount of accurate information which it furnishes, and the beauty of its
illustrations; and as such, therefore, does the highest credit both to
its editor and to its publisher; if, indeed, the editor and publisher be
not identical.
Mr. L.A. Lewis, of 125. Fleet Street, has commenced a series of weekly
Book Sales, to take place every Friday during the months of October and
November, and has arranged that parties sending large or small parcels
of books for sale during the one week, may have them sold on the Friday
in the week following.
We have received the following Catalogues:--Bernard Quaritch's (16.
Castle Street, Leicester Square) Catalogue No. 19. for 1850 of Oriental
Literature, Manuscripts, Theology, Classics, &c.; John Miller's (43.
Chandos Street) Catalogue No. 12. for 1850 of History, Antiquities,
Heraldry, &c., and Conchology, Geology, and other popular Sciences.
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