How To Read Castles: A Crash Course in Understanding Fortifications

Hislop, Malcolm

ISBN 10: 1472521617 / ISBN 13: 9781472521613

Published by Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2013

About this Item

Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned.

Seller Inventory # wbs6430734555

Bibliographic Details

• Title: How To Read Castles: A Crash Course in Understanding Fortifications
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
• Publication Date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1472521617
• ISBN 13: 9781472521613
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good
• Weight: 380 grams

About this title

Synopsis

How to Read Castles is a travel-sized primer that takes a strictly visual approach to castle architecture, building up the reader's vocabulary of castle types, styles, and materials, and showing how these aspects can be recognized across architectural features from the floor-plan and moat, to the towers and crenulations. Focusing on the period from the 10th to the 16th century, and crusading across the globe from a Welsh motte-and-bailey to a Japanese hirajiro, this is both architectural reference and visitor guide-showing the reader how to read the stories embedded in every castle's stones. Castles once dominated the landscape as seats of power and symbols of wealth and status, providing a means of control over borders, passes, routes and rivers. Armed with this book you will be able to unpick their histories and see how they shaped the land around them. From rugged coastline defences to soaring mountain fortresses, this book takes the reader on an international journey of discovery, exploring some of the most inspiring and impressive architecture history has ever seen.

About the Author

Malcolm Hislop is an independent archaeological consultant with over 30 years' experience in the investigation and interpretation of historic buildings. He is the author of How To Build a Cathedral, also published by Bloomsbury (2012).