SIR CHRISTOPHER WREN iffl HIS TUBS. WITH ILLUSTRATIVE SKETCHES AND ANECDOTES OF THE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTUEY. DY JAMES ELMES. LATE SURVEYOR OF THE JL WA XJL v juvi ON AtrrnoR OF MEMOIRS Off SIB. CHRISTOPHER WREN LECTURES OK ARCHITECTURE ANECDOTES OF ART AND ARTISTS DICTIONARY OF TTtB FINlfl AUTR SOTmtfTIFIC, IHSTOR. TCA. L AND COMMKllCIAL SUltVKY OP THE PORT Off LONDON, UTO. BttlTOR OP Sttt WILLTAW JONESS DISCOURSES ANNALS OF THE FXNB ARTS HOIW3 YAClV i, ETO. There arc throe Crowns - the Crown of the Law, the Crown of the Priesthood, and the Crown of Eoyalty but the Crown of a good Name is superior to them all. n c Talmud. LONDON CHAPMAN HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. MDCOOLTL J VK l l- ul 1 M MI JL TO HIS KOYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE ALBERT, KG., F. R. S., ETC., ETC., ETC., PRESIDENT OF HER MAJESTYS COMMISSIONERS FOR THE - PROMOTION OF THE EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS IN 1851. MAY IT PLEASE TOUR RoTAL HlGHNESS, THE proposition, execution and termination of the great and wondrous exhibition of the natural pro ductions, industry and arts of all nations, which forms the characteristic feature and the crowning triumph of the memorable year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, has transmitted the name of your Royal Highness to the most distant regions of the earth, and will convey it to the latest posterity among those bene factors of the human race who have rendered the greatest honour to HIM who is the author of peace and lover of concord TIIEROTORE a memoir of that period of English his tory which gave birth to the Royal Society, witnessed DEDICATION. the destruction and restoration of the City of London, produced a Boyle, a Newton and a Wren, and was pro lific in thefruits of the new or experimental philosophy the offspring of the illustrious Lord JJacon cannot but be congenial to the head which conceived and the heart which presided over the destinies of this mighty Macrocosm this true Temple of Concord the Exhi bition Building in Hyde Park. BUT, Eoyal Sir, there is a private, and, perhaps, a selfish motive that induced me to week your protection of my unpretending volume, which in a romombranco of the honourable praise your lloyal Highness bestowed on my late sons great work, St. Goorgoa Hall, in Liverpool, a building which does honour to tho taste and munificence of the merchant-princes of that groat commercial town, whilst the edifice wua in progress under its young inventors superintendence. Nor can. I forget tho splendid modalliou-ot-henour, you eonfomxl upon him, which I hope my little grandson, who in too young to know his loss, may live to appreciate nor the kind and affecting manner in which our Mont Gracious Quoen and your Koyal Highness conde scended to mention tho young architects premature death in the recent royal progress through tho County Palatine and Duchy of Lancaster. DEDICATION. V WHETHER the public or the private motive predomi nated, I cannot., however, refrain from expressing, as one of the great ikmily of man, of the British stock, my humble portion of gratitude to your Royal Highness, for the elevation of our national character, by collecting in our metropolis the great congregation of arts, manufactures and commerce, with professors, admirers and patrons from every part of the habitable globe. AT the same time, I take leave most respectfully to express my sincere thanks for the prompt and flattering manner in which yourRoyal Highness condescended to accept my dedication of Sir Christopher Wren and his Times I have the honour to be, Sm, Your Royal Highness most obedient and Very humble servant, JAMES ELMES. PEEF1CK THE quarto volume of Memoirs of the Life and Works of Sir Christopher Wren, which I published some years ago, was almost exclusively devoted to that distinguished man and his works...

James Elmes (1782-1862), the son of a builder, trained at the Royal Academy Schools as an architectural designer, but his career encompassed publishing and writing on architecture as well. A friend of Benjamin Robert Haydon and his circle, he was the first publisher (in his Annals of Fine Arts) of Keats' most famous odes. This work - the first biography of Wren - was published in 1823, and is dedicated to the President and Fellows of the Royal Society, of which Wren was a founder member in 1660. Elmes based his work on the so-called 'Parentalia', or notes on the Wren family compiled by his son (also Christopher), and privately printed by his grandson Stephen in 1750. Elmes puts Wren's life and works into the context of the intellectual ferment of Restoration England, and combines the narrative of Wren's life with an architectural commentary on his most important works.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone