(Pugin) (Alford, Rev.Henry)
A history and description of the restored parish church of Saint Mary, Wymeswold, Leicestershire.
London, Vizetelly nd (preface dated St.Matthew’s Day, 1846).
Full Description
Folio. (4) + ii + 23 + (5)pp, 4 tinted litho plates (incl frontispiece, the frontispiece a little spotted), also woodcut text ills. Publisher’s gilt and blind-stamped cloth. Nineteenth century bookplate of Yorkshire Architectural Society (but no library markings). A good, clean copy.
A handsome and well-illustrated volume describing this fine Leicestershire church as restored by the younger Pugin. This was one of the few Anglican churches on which Pugin worked, and, as was usual with him, he not merely restored the structure but saw to its interior decoration and designed its interior fittings. The craftsmen employed were Pugin’s loyal allies George Myers and John Hardman, together with Wailes, the Newcastle stained glass manufacturer. The book is one of the best contemporary published records of a building worked on by Pugin, and although no author is named, it was self-evidently written by the church’s vicar, later Dean of Canterbury. Copies of the volume were sold in aid of the church’s restoration fund and are scarce in the book trade today. Belcher C5.