The Buildings of England (revised editions)

Citation

Duckett, B. (2010), "The Buildings of England (revised editions)", Reference Reviews, Vol. 24 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/rr.2010.09924eae.001

The Buildings of England (revised editions)

The Buildings of England (revised editions)

Article Type: Reference Reviews survey From: Reference Reviews, Volume 24, Issue 5

Nikolaus Pevsner and others,Penguin and Yale University Press,1951-

Keywords: Architecture, Buildings, England

“There is still nothing in the world (repeat, the world, not just this country) to match these books” gushed Geoffrey Moorhouse in The Guardian. Wrote A.J.P. Taylor in The Observer: “The Buildings of England is a magnificent achievement, unrivalled in any European country. The series will be a precious gift for posterity”. These early reviews were in response to the publication of the multi-volume The Buildings of England series of books published by Penguin under the editorship of Nikolaus Pevsner. This series gave descriptions of every building of architectural importance in every county of England and, like the Victoria County History and the Oxford English Dictionary, “Pevsner” has become one of those iconic reference sources that have long furnished the shelves of the larger libraries in the UK. Indeed, the complete set of Pevsner on the shelves was, and still is, a good measure of the excellence of a reference library. Like furnishing, however, it can be so familiar that it becomes invisible. When revisions to the original series started to appear, they were in the same format and just straightforward replacements, but when the volumes got taller and more numerous and we had to re-organise our shelving as a consequence, we started to notice. Then volumes for individual cities started to appear … It is time to review the series.

For example, the second edition of the Yorkshire West Riding volume was published in 1967 in the same format as the1959 original (Pevsner, 1959, 1967). Indeed, as editor Pevsner wrote in its Foreword, the textual changes in the body of the volume were minimal owing to the limitation of revising from standing type (pagination cannot be changed), though there is a 42-page Addenda after the index. Then in 2005 there appeared a volume for Leeds under the Pevsner Architectural Guides rubric (Wrathmell, 2005). Detail and coverage was much expanded for the city and the book included coloured photographs. Though based on the Pevsner model it was clearly a new publication. Then in 2009 was published The Buildings of England, Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Leach and Pevsner, 2009) What catches the eye here is that Leeds is included, only four years after the Wrathmell edition. So does a Leeds librarian buy another volume? Does the 2009 version add more? How much more? Other towns and cities have been similarly affected. What’s going on?

The original Buildings of England series was published in 47 volumes starting with volumes for Cornwall and Nottinghamshire in 1951 and concluding with Staffordshire in 1974. The method of compilation (“I have myself seen everything that I describe” with strict visit schedules and military precision) has passed into publishing folklore (see footnote). Generally, I suspect, Pevsner has been characterised, and caricatured, for his obsession with church architecture: the prolix listing of statues, brass monuments and architectural detailing which tried our patience. Vernacular architecture was a poor relation. The series assumed knowledge of architectural history and the cryptic prose made little concession to the popular market, despite the Penguin imprint. As indicated above, the earlier revisions that followed merely added detail and corrected mistakes, though later revisions were more thorough with a wider cover of building types and more detail.

These revisions started to appear from 1962 with the Cities of London and Westminster volume, well before the series was complete. Although Pevsner was still involved and featured as principal author, most research was now done by others. (Pevsner died in 1983.) Since 1994, the continuous programme of research and new volumes, including the new series for Scotland, Wales and Ireland, has been supported and funded by the independent registered charity, the Building Books Trust, though individual volumes carry acknowledgements of additional financial help from a variety of local persons and businesses. The Trust also supports two web sites: www.pevsner.co.uk, which gives information on the Pevsner Guides; and www.lookingatbuildings.org which is a wide-ranging and expanding resource for the understanding and enjoyment of architecture. The last volume in the county series published by Penguin was the 1994 revision of Buckinghamshire. After a hiatus, 2002 saw no fewer than 13 reprints and a new edition published by Yale University Press, since when a regular succession of reprints and new editions have appeared under that imprint. Details of available volumes can be found on www.yalebooks.co.uk or www.yalebooks.com. The Yale volumes were taller than the Penguin ones, though there were a few exceptions at the time of the changeover.

Wisely, and with the exception of London, the publishers have kept to the traditional counties of England, notwithstanding the various local government reforms which changed the boundaries of most counties and obliterated others. Even if this is confusing for post-reorganization generations, it is easier to study history if the historic divisions are kept (but for how long?). The selection of towns and villages – “locations” – also remains unaltered, again ignoring administrative boundaries. What has changed geographically is the sub-division of counties with the additional material accommodated in extra volumes. Thus instead of two volumes for Lancashire, North and South, we now have three: North; Liverpool and the South-West; and Manchester and the South-East. London has expanded from two volumes to eight! This historic integrity, though, does provide surprises (and nostalgia). Despite being titled Yorkshire – West Riding North, two-thirds of the area covered is now in the post-1974 counties of North Yorkshire (e.g. Harrogate, Ripon, Skipton), Lancashire (Slaidburn, Barnoldswick) and even Cumbria (Sedbergh); the metropolitan areas of Bradford and Leeds now being part of West Yorkshire. The series for Wales, however, uses the post 1974 counties.

Those familiar with the traditional Pevsner will find the usual features and arrangements in the post-2002 Yale reincarnations, though the text flows better despite the retention of some abbreviations. The texts of the Introductions are new but cover the same ground, starting with the geology and building materials, then outlining the history of the area from prehistoric and Roman times through to “Buildings since 1918”. Further reading is listed. The main body of each volume is arranged alphabetically by place name. Sometimes the places can be quite small villages, sometimes cities. In the case of the larger places there will be sub-divisions. Thus the entry for Knaresborough, like most others (and unlike the original Pevsner) starts with a brief characterisation of the place, then divides the buildings into Churches, Knaresborough Castle, Public Buildings, the quaintly titled Perambulations (with map), and Outer Knaresborough. Sometimes suburbs are itemised and in the case of the larger cities the sub-division is more complex. A distinction is made between town centres and surrounding areas. The presentation of the material is clear, with excellent line drawings and coloured photographs (100-plus per volume is claimed). The bindings, alas, are a touch tight and the annoyingly fussy typeface has been retained for the maps. Each volume ends with a full Glossary of architectural terms, and two indexes, one for Architects, Artists, Patrons and Residents (just Architects in the original Pevsner) and the second for Places, with the main text for places highlighted in bold type.

Volumes for individual cities started to appear from 2001 (Manchester) and Bath (2003). These two were Penguin publications, but thereafter Yale. Unlike the hardback county volumes, these volumes are in paperback and headed Pevsner Architectural Guides. Like the later county revisions published by Yale University Press, they are taller than the earlier Penguin-published volumes. There is no distinction between the county volumes (old or new) and the city guides in either the Pevsner or Yale web sites, which returns us to the conundrum noted above re Leeds.

Taking the volume for Yorkshire West Riding, the original 1959 small-format volume has a 58-page introduction to the area, followed by 500 pages of places arranged alphabetically from Aberford and Acaster Malbis to Yeadon and Yockenwaite. Individual buildings are identified and briefly and cryptically described. At the end of the volume is a detailed architectural glossary of 24 pages followed by three indexes – for plates, artists, and places. The 1967 revision is more of a “corrected reprint”, but with 42-pages of addenda paralleling the main gazetteer sequence. The 2009 third edition covers a smaller area with the large conurbations of Halifax, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield, all previously “West Riding”, featuring in a second volume. Yet the smaller area is now covered in 994 pages of larger size. Basically the new edition is twice the size covering half the area: a substantial increase! The introduction to the history and geography of the area has risen from 58 pages to 88. In the West Riding first edition, Leeds was covered by 43 pages; eight further pages were added in the second edition; and in the 2009 edition it has risen to 184. In the case of the 2005 Leeds volume, there are 326 pages! Clearly the latter is able to include far more buildings and has more about the buildings than are featured in the West Riding volumes. Whereas religious buildings and stately homes dominated the earlier Pevsners, it is nice to see more prominence given to vernacular buildings in the newer edition: the distinctive Edwardian library buildings at Armley and Keighley, for example, and several striking viaducts on the Settle-Carlisle railway. But I dislike the fussy indexing with its unnecessary see references. Particularly bad was the index in the Leeds volume with its over-elaborate alphabetico-classed approached: some of the indents covered so many pages that one got quite lost. I also failed to find the city centre public library though it featured in the text. None of the volumes had generic entries for types of buildings such as workhouses, libraries or railway stations, although examples of all three were present.

“Pevsner”, though, now has an index of over 550,000 records on CD-ROM created from the Buildings of England series. This is now in its second edition and includes the recently published paperback city guides. It does not attempt to replace the books – the text is summarised and page-references provided – but acts as a general index to the series, offering three main search methods (type, site and name) supported by a variety of other fields. The vast majority of personal names mentioned in the text can be retrieved. Searches may range from nationwide information to precise, single building descriptions, and also with a sophisticated handling of dates. Cross-reference tables help to find particular terms or sites. Results can be re-sorted and saved to disk for editing or printing. The cost ranges from £75.00 for one licence to £500.00 for ten licences.

Under the Yale imprint “Pevsner” continues and is getting better. Historians, architects, art historians, planners, designers, industry professionals, local residents and all who appreciate heritage will continue seek these volumes. They are, themselves, part of our heritage. It is clear, though, that the assiduous research, marvellous detail, clear presentation and overall success, is not achieved without great cost. Yale University Press and the Buildings Book Trust are to be applauded in their endeavour. Many an entry carries the text: “demolished since first edition”. One hopes that the continued revisions and re-printings of Pevsner will reduce the incidence of that sad phrase.

Bob DuckettBibliographer and former Reference Librarian, Bradford, UK

Note

There is an excellent account by Simon Jenkins in his article: “Si Monumentum Pevsnerianium...” in Jenkins, S. (1993) The Selling of Mary Davies and Other Writings, John Murray, London, pp. 80-87. Jenkins mentions many of the researchers who worked and wrote for Pevsner, notably Ian Nairn and Alec Clifton-Taylor. Jenkins is himself a worthy inheritor of the Pevsner tradition, being the author of England’s Thousand Best Churches (Penguin Books, 1999), a heavyweight of 872 pages with coloured photographs from the Country Life archive, and also of England’s Thousand Best Houses (Allen Lane, 2003).

The “Pevsner” corpus

NOTE: In the course of researching this article, I could find no complete listing of the full, updated, series of Pevsner’s Buildings, and no library with a complete updated set. The following is based, as far as possible, on actual copies. I hope it may assist librarians to check their holdings. Volumes prior to 2002 were published by Penguin; thereafter reprints and new editions were published by Yale University Press. Dates of reprints are omitted.

Buildings of England

• •

  Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough, 1968.

• •

  Berkshire, 1966; 2nd ed. due 2010.

• •

  Buckinghamshire, 1960; 2nd ed. 1994.

• •

  Cambridgeshire, 1954; 2nd ed. 1970.

• •

  Cheshire, 1971.

• •

  Cornwall, 1951; 2nd ed. 1970.

• •

  Cumberland and Westmoreland, 1967.

• •

  Derbyshire, 1953; 2nd ed. 1978.

• •

  Devon, 2 vols. 1952; 2nd ed. (in one volume) 1989.

• •

  Dorset, 1972

• •

  [Durham] County Durham, 1953; 2nd ed. 1983.

• •

  Essex, 1954; 2nd ed. 1965; 3rd ed. 2007.

• •

  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds, 1970; 2nd ed. 1979; 3rd ed. 1999.

• •

  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale & Forest of Dean, 1970; 2nd ed. 1976; 3rd ed.

• •

  Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 1967.

• •

  Herefordshire, 1963.

• •

  Hertfordshire, 1953; 2nd ed. 1977.

• •

  Isle of Wight, 2006 (Replaces, in part, the above volume).

• •

  Kent: North East & East, 1969; 2nd ed. 1976; 3rd ed. 1983.

• •

  Kent: West & The Weald, 1969; 2nd ed. 1976.

• •

  Lancashire: The Industrial and Commercial South, 1969. Replaced by the following two volumes:

• •

  Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West, 2006.

• •

  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East, 2004.

• •

  Lancashire: The North, 1969; 2nd ed. 2009.

• •

  Leicestershire and Rutland, 1960; 2nd ed. 1984.

• •

  Lincolnshire, 1964; 2nd ed. 1989.

• •

  London, Vol. 1: Cities of London and Westminster, 1957, 2nd ed. 1962, 3rd ed 1973, and London, Vol. 2: Except the Cities of London and Westminster, 1952. Replaced by the following volumes:

• •

  London 1: The City of London, 1997.

• •

  London 2: South, 1983.

• •

  London 3: North-West, 1991.

• •

  London 4: North, 1998.

• •

  London 5: East, 2005.

• •

  London 6: The City of Westminster, 2003.

• •

  London: The City and Churches, 1998.

• •

  London: Docklands, 1998.

• •

  Norfolk 1: Norwich and the North-East, 1962; 2nd ed. 1997.

• •

  Norfolk 2: North-West and South, 1962; 2nd ed. 1999.

• •

  Northamptonshire, 1961; 2nd ed. 1973.

• •

  Northumberland, 1957; 2nd ed. 1992.

• •

  Nottinghamshire, 1951; 2nd ed. 1979.

• •

  Oxfordshire, 1974.

• •

  Shropshire, 1958; 2nd ed. 2006.

• •

  Somerset: North & Bristol, 1958.

• •

  Somerset: South & West, 1958.

• •

  Staffordshire, 1974.

• •

  Suffolk, 1961; 2nd ed. 1974.

• •

  Surrey, 1962; 2nd ed. 1971.

• •

  Sussex, 1965.

• •

  Warwickshire, 1966.

• •

  Wiltshire, 1963; 2nd ed. 1975.

• •

  Worcestershire, 1968; 2nd ed. 2007.

• •

  Yorkshire: The North Riding, 1966.

• •

  Yorkshire: York & East Riding, 1972; 2nd ed. 1995.

• •

  Yorkshire. West Riding, 1959; 2nd ed. 1967. Replaced in part by:

• •

  Yorkshire: The West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North, 2009.

Buildings of Ireland

• •

  Dublin, 2005.

• •

  North Leinster, 1993.

• •

  North-West Ulster, 1979.

Buildings of Scotland

• •

  Argyll & Bute, 2000.

• •

  Borders, 2006.

• •

  Dumfries and Galloway, 1996.

• •

  Edinburgh, 1984.

• •

  Fife, 1988.

• •

  Glasgow, 1990.

• •

  Highlands and Islands, 1992.

• •

  Lothian (except Edinburgh), 1978.

• •

  Perth & Kinross, 2007.

• •

  Stirling and Central Scotland, 2002.

Buildings of Wales

• •

  Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion, 2006.

• •

  Clwyd (Denbighshire and Flintshire), 1986.

• •

  Glamorgan, 1955.

• •

  Gwent/Monmouthshire, 2000.

• •

  Gwynedd (Anglesey, Caernarvonshire & Merioneth), 2009.

• •

  Pembrokeshire, 2004.

• •

  Powys (Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire), 1979.

Pevsner Architectural Guides (England only)

• •

  Bath, 2003.

• •

  Birmingham, 2005.

• •

  Brighton & Hove, 2008.

• •

  Bristol, 2004.

• •

  Leeds, 2005.

• •

  Liverpool, 2004.

• •

  Manchester, 2001.

• •

  Newcastle & Gateshead, 2009.

• •

  Nottingham, 2008.

• •

  Sheffield, 2004.