some quarters, since the time of Vasari, the Gothic style has been regarded. While the whole pointed architecture of Europe is taken together as Gothic, it is not strange that it should appear as an art without principles. But so soon as the principles of the true style are understood, and comparison of the architectures of the different countries is made by the light of them, the origin and exclusive existence of Gothic in France will be readily discerned.
It has been necessary to devote a considerable portion of the book to detailed descriptions of structural forms and adjustments. These may prove tedious to the unprofessional reader; but I have endeavoured to make them as brief as was consistent with thoroughness, and to express myself, as far as possible, in terms that may be generally understood.
The illustrations to the book have been reproduced either on wood or by mechanical process from drawings, the most of which were made on the spot, or from photographs, by myself. For some of the illustrations of sculpture the drawings have been made from photographs either by my daughter, or by myself; and several of the most elaborate illustrations of entire buildings have been drawn from photographs for the engraver by Mr. H. W. Brewer of London, the well-known architectural draughtsman.
I am indebted for help in gathering materials, and in other ways, to the kindness of many persons; but most especially to M. l'Abbé Müller of Senlis, to the Very Reverend William Butler, Dean of Lincoln, to my architect friends, Messrs. A. H. Mackmurdo of London, and W. P. P. Longfellow and C. A. Cummings of Boston, Massachusetts, to my friends, Professor George H. Palmer and Mr. Wm. C. Lane of Cambridge, Massachusetts (the latter of whom has prepared the index), and, above all, to my friend, Professor C. E. Norton of Cambridge, Massachusetts, without whose critical revision I should hardly have wished to publish the book.
October 1889.
