The Builder Illustrations Index: 1843-1883.

The Builder was the most important chronicle of architecture in Britain (and sometimes abroad) of the entire nineteenth century. It was not copiously illustrated (picture reproduction was not cheap, particularly in the early years, when wood engraving was the norm). But the illustrations it did carry provide a remarkable record, not only of the Battle of the Styles, but of building methods, scientific improvements and social problems.

The cause of the excellence of the pictures and their wide range of subject matter was George Godwin, the magazine's second editor, and perhaps the finest architectural journalist that has ever been. (Motto: 'The old adage of too many irons in the fire conveys an untruth. You cannot have too many - poker, tongs and all - keep them all going'.)

Ruth Richardson and Robert Thorne have catalogued every picture used in Godwin's 39-year reign. (He was deposed by a swinish young proprietor a few months before his 40th anniversary in the chair.) Richardson and Thorne have been most meticulous. Their chronological catalogue reveals not only the architects and engineers responsible for the work but, where possible, the names of the draftsman and engraver, building methods and innovations, architectural features and devices. They provide an excellent introduction to architectural publishing of the period, and to Godwin in particular. And there are no less than six indexes (geographical, titles, names, roles, styles, subjects). An exemplary work, essential to all scholarly libraries, and to anyone seriously interested in the nineteenth century.

PD