Romantic romp.ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE ROMANTIC ERA, 1760-1850 Edited by Christopher John Murray Not to be confused with John Murry. There have been several important people by the name of John Murray (roughly in chronological order):
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of & London: Fitzroy Dearborn. 2004. [pounds sterling]175 This two-volume encyclopaedia provides entries, generally about 1000 words long, on the leading artistic and literary themes, figures and creations of the mid-eighteenth to the midnineteenth centuries. The subjects are overwhelmingly British, French and German, although major figures from elsewhere are included. Not much on architecture: the only British architects are A. W. N. Pugin. Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (April 21, 1752 - March 24, 1818), was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the nineteenth century. , and John Soane Sir John Soane (10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light . While it is certainly true that the Romantic movement produced little memorable architecture in pre-Pugin England, there are no entries whatsoever on individual buildings: some, such as the new Palace of Westminster, should surely have been inescapable in this context. Furthermore, by covering the work of Richard Wagner, as late as the 1880s and a long way on from Mozart (d1791) and Beethoven (d1827), the editor rather suggests that the entire late Gothic Revival Gothic revival, term designating a return to the building styles of the Middle Ages. Although the Gothic revival was practiced throughout Europe, it attained its greatest importance in the United States and England. should be in here too. The entries, by named academics, are however well-judged, and the writing usually sharp and effective; indeed, the entry on Pugin, by Stephen Carver, is excellent. That said, there are a number of technical problems, some minor but others less so, which will prove an impediment to potential users. There is no comprehensive index: the one provided at the end of the second volume unhelpfully refers almost exclusively to the main entries rather than to a character or work's reappearance elsewhere. There is likewise very little in the way of cross-referencing in some cases, none at all: some entries lack the biographical summary that others have. And the few reproduced images are captioned with the name of the copyright holder of the photographic reproduction, but not with the location of the original work. The fact-checkers and the proofreaders ought to have been allowed one last look, too: the portrait of Shelley by Severn that adorns the cover of volume one appears in reverse in the entry under 'Shelley'; among other minor irritations I noticed that Balzac's Lost Illusions is once rendered as Lest Illusions; and a bibliographical entry under 'Soane' gives its author's name Noun 1. author's name - the name that appears on the by-line to identify the author of a work writer's name name - a language unit by which a person or thing is known; "his name really is George Washington"; "those are two names for the same thing" as Dean Ptolemy, rather than Ptolemy Dean Ptolemy Dean is a British architect who specialises in the repair of historic buildings and the design of new buildings in sensitive sites. Dean is the son of a judge from the Home Counties. . Not dreadful: but one looks for reference books one can trust. Book reviews from this and recent issues of The Architectural Review The Architectural Review is a monthly international architectural magazine published in London since 1896. Articles cover the built environment which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism as well as theory of these subjects. can now be seen on our website at www.arplus.com and the books can be ordered online, many at special discount. |
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