Lewer, Signed (3 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very good. Presumed First Edition, First printing. 192 pages. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrations (some in color). Signed by David Lewer on the title page. DJ has minor edge wear and soiling. Foreword by the Very Reverend Robert Milburn. Appendices. Selected Bibliography. Subscribers (a number of individuals-- some prominent--underwrote the cost of this publication (at least in part) through subscription. Index. David James Lewer (Swanage, 22 January 1919 - 16 April 2005) was an author, architect, historian and choral musician. Lewer became a chorister at the Temple Church, London in 1931, remaining in the choir until 1933. After his voice broke in 1933, he remained connected with the church, initially as Honorary Librarian and a member of the Templars Union. He joined the gentlemen of the choir as a Tenor, and remained a regular member of the choir until at least 1982. After qualifying as an architect, Lewer spent his career in architectural practice. After the Second World War, Lewer began to write factual books and pamphlets on a variety of subjects, but specializing in his two great loves: Swanage and its history, and the Temple Church. His most famous work, 'A Spiritual Song', is a comprehensive history of the Temple Church choir, and was published by the Templar's Union: he was granted access to the historical records of two of the Inns of Court, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple by then sub-treasurer of the Inner Temple, Commander Rodney Flynn. It is notable for containing the complete list of choristers from the foundation of the current choir model under Edward John Hopkins in 1842 up until the date of publication. Robert Dark was an architect with a further qualification in Building Conservation. He previously had written a thesis on the Temple Church. The Temple Church, a royal peculiar in the Church of England, is a church in the City of London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built by the Knights Templar for their English headquarters in the Temple precinct. It was consecrated on 10 February 1185 by Patriarch Heraclius of Jerusalem. During the reign of King John (1199-1216) it served as the royal treasury, supported by the role of the Knights Templar as proto-international bankers. It is now jointly owned by the Inner Temple and Middle Temple Inns of Court, bases of the English legal profession. It is famous for being a round church, a common design feature for Knights Templar churches, and for its 13th- and 14th-century stone effigies. It was heavily damaged by German bombing during World War II and has since been greatly restored and rebuilt. The area around the Temple Church is still known as the Temple. Temple Bar, a jurisdictional gateway, stood in the middle of Fleet Street in the Temple area. Nearby is Temple Underground station. The church building comprises two separate sections: The original circular church building, called the Round Church and now acting as a nave, and a later rectangular section adjoining on the east side, built approximately half a century later, forming the chancel. After the destruction and abolition of the Knights Templar in 1307, King Edward II took control of the church as a Crown possession. It was later given to the Knights Hospitaller, who leased the Temple to two colleges of lawyers. On 10 May 1941, German incendiary bombs set the roof of the Round Church on fire, and the fire quickly spread to the nave and chapel. The organ and all the wooden parts of the church, including the Victorian renovations, were destroyed and the Purbeck marble columns in the chancel cracked due to the intense heat. Although these columns still provided some support to the vault, they were deemed unsound and were replaced in identical form. The original columns had a slight outward lean, which architectural quirk was followed in the replacement columns. The Master's House was burned down on the same night. During the renovation by the architect Walter Godfrey, it was discovered that elements of the 17th-century renovations ma.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. First Edition. Published c1948. Minimal library markings, none externally; rubbing to spine and boards corners; signed dedication by author on front free endpaper. 71p of text + 26p of photographs. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Signed by Author(s).

Boards. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. The wonderful 1924 "souvenir and handbook of the British section of the World's Poultry Congress (the 2nd such Congress ever held), in Barcelona and Madrid". Published by the trade journal "The Feathered World" of London. Solid and VG in its red boards, with bright gilt-titling along the front panel. Light bumping at the upper tips, very mild soiling to the panels, small, neat former owner name at the front free edpaper. Includes "14 coloured and 135 other illustrations" throughout. Also includes a tipped-in letter from "Feathered World", signed by its author (Sidney Lewer) to the former owner of this copy (Clem Watson), one of the exhibitors of "the World's Second Poultry Congress in Barcelona, 1924". Signed.