The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture: Set Forth in Two Lectures Delivered at St. Marie's, Oscott

Pugin, Augustus Welby Northmore

London : J. Weale, 1841

Bound in publisher's morocco spine over green cloth. Hardcover. Binding slightly shaken. Wear/rubbing to extremities. Light spotting/foxing to some pages which affects certain plates. [4], 67, 40 p., [9] leaves of plates : 47 wood-cuts and 31 vignettes, plans ; 27 cm. Scattered spotting.  'In The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture (1841) he first laid down firm principles for the Victorian Gothic Revival. Architecture, he held, should be honest in its expression. Every feature of a building should be essential to its proper functioning and construction, and every feature of this construction should be frankly expressed. Architecture was to be judged by the highest standards of morality. Such concepts are a part of Pugin's French heritage; they were commonplace in 18th-century France, but Pugin's ideals came as a revelation to British architects and gave to the Gothic Revival a wholly new seriousness of purpose.'