Details of Antient Timber. [Gothic Timber Pattern Book]. Details of Antient Timber Houses of the 15th and 16th Centuries. Selected from Those Existing at Rouen, Caen, Beauvais, Gisors, Abbeville, Strasbourg etc

PUGIN, Augustus Welby Northmore

Published by Ackermann & Co, London, 1836

About this Item

Published: 1836. Not signed by author. 1836 first edition of an early work by A.W.N. Pugin, the visionary behind the interiors of the Palace of Westminster. From the Gothic Revival period this volume provides an insight into the medievalist passion that swept the Victorian era. PROVENANCE: From the library of John Taylor, Booth Hall. DESCRIPTION: Publisher's original cloth binding with illustrated onlay. Illustrated title page with twenty-one monochrome plates. Collated as prescribed Language: English Book Condition: Good. Light wear to corners, edges and spine ends. Clean cloth. Small loss to edges of onlay. Tightly bound with lightly toned intact endpapers and strong hinges. Previous owners name to ffep. Light spotting and foxing to most plate margins, occasionally spilling on to image. Heavier spotting o plates shown in photographs. Two small pencil annotations to page margins. DJ Condition: No DJ. Size: 30 cm by 24. 5 cm. PROVENANCE BACKGROUND: John Taylor was a prosperous Lancastrian that rose to prominence through medical philanthropy and strategic land ownership. He was the son of Edmund Taylor Jr. , an MD who practiced at Booth Hall, and the grandson of the famous Edmund Taylor of Salford, a bone-setter of such repute he was known as the Oldfield Lane Doctor. Upon inheriting a fortune of approximately £70,000 (roughly £9 million today), John Taylor assumed the life of a country gentleman, managing substantial estates at both Booth Hall in Blackley and The Rocks at Marshfield in Gloucestershire. His death in 1881 marked the end of an era for the Hall, which was eventually sold by his executors and demolished in 1907 to make way for the famous Booth Hall Childrens Hospital. BOOK RESUME: Details of Antient Timber Houses is a meticulous architectural survey of medieval domestic buildings across Northern France and Germany. Published in 1836, the work features an illustrated title page and twenty-one exquisite monochrome plates etched with Pugins characteristic precision. Unlike his more theoretical manifestos, this volume is a practical pattern book of late-medieval craftsmanship, showcasing gables, bargeboards, and timber-framing from cities such as Rouen, Caen, and Strasbourg. It served as a vital reference for Victorian architects seeking to replicate the Old English and Continental Gothic styles in modern domestic settings, capturing the intricate beauty of structural woodwork before the widespread destructions of the modern age. AUTHOR: Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) was a giant of 19th-century design whose short, frenetic life fundamentally altered the course of British architecture. The son of a French draughtsman, Pugin was a child prodigy who, by his early twenties, had become the philosophical engine of the Gothic Revival. He is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Charles Barry on the Houses of Parliament, where he designed almost every interior detail, from the thrones to the inkwells. A devout convert to Catholicism, Pugin believed that the decline of medieval architecture was a symptom of a declining society. His work was not merely about aesthetics; it was a crusade to restore what he termed 'truth in social and architectural structure'. .

Seller Inventory # 12524

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Details of Antient Timber. [Gothic Timber Pattern Book]. Details of Antient Timber Houses of the 15th and 16th Centuries. Selected from Those Existing at Rouen, Caen, Beauvais, Gisors, Abbeville, Strasbourg etc
• Publisher: Ackermann & Co, London
• Publication Date: 1836
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No DJ