Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902‐1983) was the founder and chief author of the first Buildings of England series of county guides published from 1951. These have since been revised and augmented with volumes covering Scotland, Wales and Ireland. (For a listing of the complete corpus see Reference Reviews Survey: The Buildings of England (24(5) 2010 p. 5)). Pevsner and subsequent editors included informative and well‐illustrated glossaries of architectural terms in their volumes and the work under review here is essentially an amalgamation and updating of these glossaries. The contents are re‐presented in a modern layout but the finished volume matches those in the revised series now published by Yale University Press.
The volume is delightfully unfussy. Many of the entries are supported by specially commissioned line drawings, while coloured photographs further illustrate many of the terms. In addition, the photographs are sequenced to give a guide to stylistic developments in both religious and secular architecture, from “Anglo‐Saxon: Colchester, Holy Trinity, W. doorway. Essex” to “Modernist: Nolton, Malator, by Future Systems, 1998. Pembrokeshire”. References are made from many of the prose definitions to the drawings and plates (though the numbered figures sometimes take a little finding – could not page numbers have been used instead?). The 53 plates have a separate sequence of extended captions in the prefatory matter, where there are extracts from the original descriptions in the Pevsner Architectural Guides. The roundels at the start of each letter of the alphabet are taken from the original series and are a nice touch.
“To name is to know” claims the Foreword. Once we know what something is called, we learn to recognise it and learn to differentiate it from other elements. We learn to recognise styles and understand more of buildings, their structure and history, and our heritage. The terms featured range from the esoteric such as Headstop, Hoodmould and Squinch, through the more familiar Mullion, Dado, Mansard and Ogee, and on to the everyday domestic such as Bargeboards, Soffits, Nosings and Fascia. Places providing illustrations range from cathedrals, castles and stately homes to the Sage Music Centre at Gateshead and the Storm Water Pumping Station in London's Isle of Dogs. No editor is named but the Foreword is by Simon Bradley and most of the drawings are by John Sanbrook.
This clear and practical primer to looking at elements of a building will enliven any architectural exploration, whether by novice or expert. More particularly for our needs, it will provide a quick and user‐friendly guide for the reference shelves. From Acanthus (“Classical formalized leaf ornament”) to Yett (“Hinged openwork gate at a main doorway, made of iron bars alternately penetrating and penetrated”), this is a superb pocket‐sized architectural dictionary. Pevsner's Architectural Glossary is strongly recommended for any library.
