History of the Gothic Revival (Library of Victorian Culture)

Charles Eastlake became secretary to the Royal Institute of British architects in 1866 where he remained until 1877 . During this time, he wrote three books. He is best and favorably remembered for A History of the Gothic Revival. It is still considered a standard source-book and for that reason alone would be worth republishing. It has another and even stronger claim on our interest. Few books exemplify so well not only what a tremendous and basic shift was going on during the 1860s and 1870s in fundamental concepts of what art and architecture are all about, but also how subtly, gradually and unconsciously the shift proceeded, so that even major exponents of it were barely aware of what was happening, and many modern scholars still neither realize nor recognize it. Charles Eastlake's history of the Gothic revival - the single most important contemporary history of Victorian architecture - is now available in paperback. This edition features an extensive introduction by Alan Gowans, one of North America's foremost architectural historians , whose work is always thought-provoking and this is no exception . This book is over 400 pages . As the subtitle states it is an attempt to show how the taste for Medieval architecture which lingered in England during the \" last two centuries \" has since been encouraged and developed. It was originally published in London in 1872