It is difficult for the reviewer to add anything to the plaudits that earlier editions of this work received. Beginning life in 1954 as A Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1600‐1840, and with later editions appearing under the present title in 1978 and 1995, this fourth edition adds 64 newly identified architects to the text as well as several hundred additional buildings. Many of the additional architects are chiefly of local interest, but they include one major discovery of a hitherto unknown gentleman architect, John Osborne (d. 1629) who, according to the Preface, “was making correct Vitruvian designs before the emergence of Inigo Jones as a classical architect”. It is important to note that in order to include these new entries, a number have been dropped, being those whose practices were on or over the chronological borderline of 1840. Some libraries, therefore, may wish to keep the third edition alongside the new acquisition.
Colvin explains in his Guide to Contents that the term “architect” includes anyone, whether amateur, tradesman or professional, who habitually made architectural designs and that British is defined as anyone who, regardless of nationality, practised in England, Wales or Scotland. Architects domiciled in Ireland are not included, although buildings in that country erected to the designs of British architects are noted. The book comprises one alphabetical sequence, although there are introductory essays on the Building Trade and the Architectural Profession during the period covered. Indices of persons and places form useful closing sections to this authoritative and invaluable work.
