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Old England: A Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal and Popular Antiquities, Charles Knight (1791 – 1873) London, Charles Knight and Co., Ludgate Street, First Edition, 1845, two volumes, folio, pp. viii, 392; vi, 386, 24 chromoxylographs (incl. frontis.). Many wood-engraved text illustrations.
My copy has contemporary (worn) half-calf with gilt backs; there is some light foxing and dampstaining to the plates and margins of some leaves. Ref. Abbey, Life, 43; purchased D. & E Lake Toronto, 1992.
This book has been reprinted, but the reprint is out of print; you can search for a used copy on Amazon.
I have typed in the index to the book so that you can ask me for other scans if you like.
I have the first few sections online as Old England: A Pictorial Museum if you want to read the actual book!
The book starts with Druidical and Prehistoric remains and continues on to have Castles, Manors and stately homes, Churches, Abbeys and Cathedrals and much more.
Charles Knight also produced an illustrated edition of the Works of Shakspere, as he spelt it.
There is an entry in the Nuttall Encyclopædia for Charles Knight.
Some of the engravings were done by the Dalziel brothers; I have some images from their autobiography, A Record of Work.
Contents
Volume I
Book I. Before the Conquest.
Chapter I. The British Period. [Fig. 1]
Chapter II. The Roman Period. [Fig. 80]
Chapter III. The Anglo-Saxon Period. [Fig. 189]
Book II. The Period From the Norman Conquest to the Death of King John. A.D. 1066—1216.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 334]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 491]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 795]
Book III. The Period From the Accession of Henry III. to the End of the Reign of Richard II. A.D. 1216—1399.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. Fig. 814]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 929]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities.
Book IV. The Period From the Accession of Henry IV. to the End of the Reign of Richard III. A.D. 1399—1485.
Chapter I. Regal and Baronial Antiquities. [Fig. 1150]
Chapter II. Ecclesiastical Antiquities. [Fig. 1279]
Chapter III. Popular Antiquities. [Fig. 1335]
Although some of the images here are from Volume II, I plan to move them into their own darling little folder, and will make a second table of contents.
This book is online at archive.org (Vol I and Vol II), although the OCR has done a really bad job, and the scans are lower resolution and not cleaned up. But you could use it to request a specific image, and I will scan it for you if it’s not here yet.
Title: Old England: A Pictorial Museum
City: London
Date: 1845
Total items: 407
Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.
568.—Capital and base, S.E. Transept, Canterbury
A column, or stone pillar, in Canterbury Cathedral. [$]
569.—Staircase in the Conventual Buildings, Canterbury
“Look at Canterbury [Cathedral]. How many changes of architectural taste are not there visible; how many different periods of architectural history may not there be traced: yet is the effect anywhere discordant?—Oh, he were indeed presumptious who should say so. Is it not rather in the highest degree grand and impressive, conveying at once to the mind that sense of subline repose which belongs only to works of essential unity? We need not subjoin any detailed architectural descriptions. The Cathedral is pleasantly situated in an extensive court, surrounded by gardens, [more...] [$]
577.—Interior of Lincoln Cathedral.
The Nave, unequalled, it is supposed, in the world for its combined magnitude and beauty of proportion, and the curious Galilee porch, so richly decorated, are among the next additions; the use of the last-named work has thus been explained by Dr. Slilner (‘Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Architecture of the Middle Ages’):—“There were formerly such [...] [more...] [$]
580. – Early English Turret, Lincoln.
The individual images of Lincoln Cathedral are not called out in the text. Early English is an architectural term, meaning the English style of building with Gothic pointed arches that was used predominantly in the thirteenth century. The figure at the top of this spire is presumably a statue, rather than some unfortunate [...] [more...] [$]
583.—Bracket, Chapter Housse, Lincoln.
They don’t make brackets like this any more! A carved stone folaiate bracket with a human face or head at the base. This is surely the sort of Gothic ornament that inspired the Gothic Revival! [more...] [$]
A bracket, possibly a corbel supporting the end of an arch, in the form of a winged angel holding a shield with a cross on it. [$]
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