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Summary
Author: (Barry, Charles)
Title: Illustrations of the New Palace of Westminster. Charles Barry, Esq., R.A., architect. From drawings by J.Johnson, F.S.A., and G.Somers Clarke, architects, and John Thomas, sculptor. A history of the Palace of Westminster, by Henry T.Ryde. First series.
Publication: London, Warrington & Son 1849.
Price: £1,650
Reference: 11319
Full Description
Folio. Tinted litho frontispiece, engraved dedication leaf, (34) + pp 3-63 + (1)pp, with (16) (3 double-page) + (1) plates, of which 11 are tinted lithos and the rest engraved, also woodcut text ills. Publisher’s cloth, spine repaired. No ownership inscription but Sir Howard Colvin’s copy.
A scarce and handsome volume which was the first authoritative publication devoted to Barry’s New Houses of Parliament building when newly built. The drawings for it were supplied by the architects John Johnson (responsible for the exterior perspective views) and George Somers Clarke (from Barry’s office) and by the sculptor John Thomas. The volume concentrates on those parts of the building that were substantially complete at the time - the Victoria Tower, the House of Lords and its adjoining rooms, and the towers on the river front - and the exterior views, in particular, convey something of the grandeur of Barry’s design. It was intended at the time that a second volume would follow, but this did not materialise until 1865.