Nikolaus Pevsner
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Sir Nikolaus Pevsner CBE (January 30, 1902 – August 18, 1983) was a German-born British historian of art and, especially, architecture.
The son of a Jewish merchant, Pevsner was born in Leipzig, Saxony. He studied art history at the Universities of Leipzig, Munich, Berlin, and Frankfurt/Main in Germany (PhD 1924), worked at the Dresden Gallery (1924–28) and taught at Göttingen University (1929–33). In 1934, he moved to England to escape Nazism and taught at London, Oxford, Birmingham and Cambridge universities. He assumed British citizenship in 1946.
He is best known for his 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, The Buildings of England (1951-74), one of the great achievements of 20th-century art scholarship.
Pevsner conceived and edited the Pelican History of Art series (1953–), many individual volumes of which are regarded as classics.
He died in London.
Research papers and correspondence relating to Pevsner's first job in a British university, after leaving Germany, can be found at the University of Birmingham Special Collections but are as yet uncatalogued.
Contents |
Selected bibliography
- Academies of Art, Past and Present (1940)
- An Outline of European Architecture (1943)
- Pioneers of Modern Design (1949; originally published in 1936 under the title Pioneers of the Modern Movement)
- The Buildings of England (1951-74)
- The Englishness of English Art (1956)
- The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design (1968)
- A History of Building Types (1976)
The Buildings of England
After moving to England, Pevsner found that the study of architectural history had little status in academic circles, and the amount of information available, especially to travellers wanting to inform themselves about the architecture of a particular district, was limited. He conceived a project to write a series of comprehensive county guides to rectify this, and gained the backing of Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, for whom he had written his Outline of European Architecture. Work on the series began in 1945. Lane employed two part-time assistants, both German refugee art historians, who prepared notes for Pevsner from published sources. Pevsner spent the academic holidays touring the country to make personal observations and carry out local research, before writing up the finished volumes. The first volume was published in 1951. Pevsner wrote 32 of the books himself and 10 with collaborators, and work on the series continued after his death.
The books are compact and intended to meet the needs of both specialists and the general reader. Each contains an extensive introduction to the architectural history and styles of the area, followed by a town-by-town - and in the case of larger settlements, street-by-street - account of individual buildings. The guides offer both detailed coverage of the most notable buildings and notes on lesser-known and vernacular buildings; all building types are covered but there is a particular emphasis on churches and public buildings. Each volume has a central section with several dozen pages of photographs, which continue to be in black and white.
The list below is of the volumes that were in print in 2005. The original volumes are gradually being replaced with new editions in a larger format, updated to reflect architectural-history scholarship since the first publications of the guides and to include significant new buildings. The dates after each title are of the first publication and of any revised edition. All are now published by the Yale University Press.
- Bath (2003) (Michael Forsyth)
- Bedfordshire, Huntingdon & Peterborough (1968)
- Berkshire (1966)
- Buckinghamshire (1960;1994) (rev. Elizabeth Williamson)
- Cambridgeshire (1954;1970)
- Cheshire (1971) ISBN 0140710426 (with Edward Hubbard)
- Cornwall (1951;1970)
- County Durham (1953;1983) (rev. Elizabeth Williamson)
- Cumberland & Westmorland (1967)
- Derbyshire (1953;1978) (rev. Elizabeth Williamson)
- Devon (1952;1989)
- Dorset (1972) (with John Newman)
- Essex (1954;1965) (rev. Enid Radcliffe)
- Gloucestershire: The Cotswolds (1970;1999) (David Verey, rev. Alan Brooks)
- Gloucestershire: The Vale & Forest of Dean (2002) (David Verey, rev. Alan Brooks)
- Hampshire & The Isle of Wight (1967) (with David Lloyd)
- Herefordshire (1963)
- Hertfordshire (1953;1977) (rev. Bridget Cherry)
- Kent: North East & East (1969;1983) (John Newman)
- Kent: West & the Weald (1969;1976) (John Newman)
- Lancashire: Manchester & the South-East (2004) ISBN 0300105835 (with Clare Hartwell and Matthew Hyde)
- North Lancashire (1969)
- South Lancashire (1969) ISBN 0140710361
- Leicestershire & Rutland (1960;1984) (rev. Elizabeth Williamson)
- Lincolnshire (1964;1989) (with John Harris, rev. Nicholas Antram)
- Liverpool (2003) (Joseph Sharples)
- London 1: The City of London (1997) ISBN 0300096240 (with Simon Bradley)
- London 2: South (1983) ISBN 0300096518 (with Bridget Cherry)
- London 3: North-West (1991) ISBN 0300096526 (with Bridget Cherry)
- London 4: North (1998) ISBN 0300096534 (with Bridget Cherry)
- London 5: East (2004) ISBN 0300107013 (with Bridget Cherry and Charles O'Brien)
- London 6: Westminster (2003) ISBN 0300095953 (with Simon Bradley)
- London City Churches (1998) (Simon Bradley)
- Manchester (2001) ISBN 0300096666 (Clare Hartwell)
- Norfolk 1: Norwich & North East (1962;1997) (rev. Bill Wilson)
- Norfolk 2: South & West (1962;1999) (rev. Bill Wilson)
- Northamptonshire (1961;1973) (rev. Bridget Cherry)
- Northumberland (1957;1992) (with Ian A. Richmond, rev. John Grundy, Grace McCombie, Peter Ryder and Humphrey Welfare)
- Nottinghamshire (1951;1979) (rev. Elizabeth Williamson)
- Oxfordshire (1974) (with Jennifer Sherwood)
- Sheffield (2004) (Ruth Harman and John Minnis) ISBN 0300105851
- Shropshire (1958)
- Somerset: North & Bristol (1958)
- Somerset: South & West (1958)
- Staffordshire (1974) ISBN 0140710469
- Suffolk (1961;1974) (rev. Enid Radcliffe)
- Surrey (1962;1971) (with Ian Nairn, rev. Bridget Cherry)
- Sussex (1965) (with Ian Nairn)
- Warwickshire (1966) (with Alexandra Wedgwood)
- Wiltshire (1963;1971) (rev. Bridget Cherry)
- Worcestershire (1968)
- Yorkshire: The North Riding (1966)
- Yorkshire: The West Riding (1959;1967) (rev. Enid Radcliffe)
- Yorkshire: York & East Riding (1972;1995) (rev. David Neave)
The Buildings of Scotland
The series continued under Pevsner's name into Scotland. The series is not yet complete.
- Aberdeenshire and North-East (in preparation)
- Argyll and Bute (2000) ISBN 0300096704 (Frank Arneil Walker)
- Ayrshire (in preparation)
- Borders (2005) ISBN 0300107021 (Kitty Cruft, John Dunbar and Richard Fawcett)
- Dumfries and Galloway (1996) (ISBN 0300096712) (John Gifford)
- Dundee and Angus (in preparation)
- Edinburgh (1984) ISBN 0200096720 (John Gifford, Colin McWilliam and David Walker)
- Fife (1988) ISBN 0300096739 (John Gifford)
- Glasgow (1990) ISBN 0300096747 (Elizabeth Williamson, Anne Riches and Malcolm Higgs)
- Highlands and Islands (1992) ISBN 0300096259 (John Gifford)
- Lothian, except Edinburgh (1978) (ISBN 0300096267 (Colin McWilliam)
- Perth and Kinross (in preparation)
- Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire (in preparation)
- Stirling and Central Scotland (2002) ISBN 0300095945 (John Gifford and Frank Arneil Walker)
The Buildings of Wales
The series has also been extended to Wales.
- Carmarthern and Ceredigion (to be published in 2005)
- Clwyd (1986) ISBN 0-300-09627-5 (Edward Hubbard)
- Glamorgan (1995) ISBN 0-300-09629-1 (John Newman)
- Gwent/Monmouthshire (2000) ISBN 0-300-09630-5 (John Newman)
- Gwynedd (research in progress)
- Pembrokeshire (2004) ISBN 0-300-0178-3 (Thomas Lloyd, Julian Orbach and Robert Scourfield)
- Powys (1979) ISBN 0-300-09631-3 (Richard Haslam)
The Buildings of Ireland
The Irish series is not so far advanced as the others. However the following have been published or are being prepared.
- Dublin (2005) (Christine Casey)
- North-West Ulster: the Counties of Londonderry, Donegal, Fermanagh & Tyrone (1979) ISBN 0-300-09667-4 (Alistair Rowan)
- North Leinster (1993) ISBN 0-300-09668-2 (Alistair Rowan and Christine Casey)
See also
- Survey of London - an even more detailed but incomplete account of the architecture of London.