This Is A New Release Of The Original 1892 Edition.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1894 Edition.

1894. Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the world's surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of constructive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the fourth culmination of the building art in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the Supreme monument of the Christian cycle. The attempt here is some disentanglement of the history of the Church and an analysis of its design and construction; on the one hand, we have been led a step or two into the labyrinth of Constantinopolian topography, on the other, we have thought that the great Church offers the best point of view for the observation of the Byzantine theory of building.

1894. Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the world's surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of constructive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the fourth culmination of the building art in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the Supreme monument of the Christian cycle. The attempt here is some disentanglement of the history of the Church and an analysis of its design and construction; on the one hand, we have been led a step or two into the labyrinth of Constantinopolian topography, on the other, we have thought that the great Church offers the best point of view for the observation of the Byzantine theory of building.

1892. In sending out this essay, the author asks for indulgence. In the first place, because this is, so far as was known to him, the only attempt to set out, from an architect's point of view, the basis of certain ideas common in the architecture of many lands and religions, the purposes behind the structure and form which may be called the esoteric principles of architecture. And secondly, for an attempt to deal with a subject that could only be rightly handled by one having the equipment of a wide scholarship. Illustrated. Partial Contents: Microcosmos; Four square; At the center of the earth; The Jewel bearing tree; Planetary spheres; Labyrinth; Golden gate of the sun; Pavements like the sea; Ceilings like the sky; Windows of heaven and three hundred and sixty days; Symbol of creation.

Also Contains Lectures By Halsey Ricardo And Reginald Blomfield.

1892. In sending out this essay, the author asks for indulgence. In the first place, because this is, so far as was known to him, the only attempt to set out, from an architect's point of view, the basis of certain ideas common in the architecture of many lands and religions, the purposes behind the structure and form which may be called the esoteric principles of architecture. And secondly, for an attempt to deal with a subject that could only be rightly handled by one having the equipment of a wide scholarship. Illustrated. Partial Contents: Microcosmos; Four square; At the center of the earth; The Jewel bearing tree; Planetary spheres; Labyrinth; Golden gate of the sun; Pavements like the sea; Ceilings like the sky; Windows of heaven and three hundred and sixty days; Symbol of creation.

Contents Include: WRITING AND ILLUMINATING: The Development of Writing - Acquiring a Formal Hand, Tools, Methods, Models, Practice - Manuscript Books - Versal Letters and Coloured Capitals - Black and Red - Laying and Burnishing Gold - The Use of Gold and Colours in Initial Letters and Simple Illumination - A Theory of Illumination - The Development of Illumination - "Design in Illumination" - LETTERING: Good Lettering - Some Methods of Construction and Arrangement - The Roman Alphabet and its Derivatives - Special Subjects - Inscriptions in Stone - Notes on the Collotype Plates - The Collotype Plates

Also Contains Lectures By Halsey Ricardo And Reginald Blomfield.

The perfect temple should stand at the centre of the world, a microcosm of the universe fabric, its walls built four square with the walls of heaven. And thus they stand the world over, be they Egyptian, Buddhist, Mexican, Greek, or Christian, with the greatest uniformity and exactitude.-from "Chapter III: Four Square"With a wide-ranging scholarship that is astonishing, a prominent figure of the Arts and Crafts design movement explores the "esoteric principles of architecture," the global, interconnected myths that underlie all the structures we build. Through his architect's eye, Lethaby looks at such diverse traditions as the ancient Norse and ancient Egyptian and at the inspiration provided by everything from the sea voyages of the Phoenicians to the astronomy of the earliest Persians, demonstrating how they inform and inspire such wonders as St. Paul's Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, the Palace at Versailles, and others. This 1891 work is a masterpiece of architectural symbolism and an essential foundation for understanding and appreciating "classical" design.British architect WILLIAM RICHARD LETHABY (1857-1931) was the first professor of design at the Royal College of Art. He also wrote Greek Buildings (1908), Mediaeval Art (1912), and Architecture (1912).

Contents Include: WRITING AND ILLUMINATING: The Development of Writing Acquiring a Formal Hand, Tools, Methods, Models, Practice Manuscript Books Versal Letters and Coloured Capitals Black and Red Laying and Burnishing Gold The Use of Gold and Colours in Initial Letters and Simple Illumination A Theory of Illumination The Development of Illumination "Design in Illumination" LETTERING: Good Lettering Some Methods of Construction and Arrangement The Roman Alphabet and its Derivatives Special Subjects Inscriptions in Stone Notes on the Collotype Plates The Collotype Plates

1894. Sancta Sophia is the most interesting building on the world's surface. Like Karnak in Egypt, or the Athenian Parthenon, it is one of the four great pinnacles of architecture, but unlike them this is no ruin, nor does it belong to a past world of constructive ideas although it precedes by seven hundred years the fourth culmination of the building art in Chartres, Amiens, or Bourges, and thus must ever stand as the Supreme monument of the Christian cycle. The attempt here is some disentanglement of the history of the Church and an analysis of its design and construction; on the one hand, we have been led a step or two into the labyrinth of Constantinopolian topography, on the other, we have thought that the great Church offers the best point of view for the observation of the Byzantine theory of building.