The Classical Language of Architecture by John Summerson (Thames & Hudson, revised and enlarged ed. 1983) is a concise account of architectural Classicism.
Sir John Summerson’s brief account of classical architecture has every right to be called a classic itself, and for this new edition it has been completely redesigned and the number of illustrations more than doubled. Few books can have had such an enthusiastic reaction from the leaned and at the same time added so much to the layman’s pleasure in his surroundings. For to appreciate the classical style, its variety and its strength, its wit and its occasional eccentricity, demands instruction. The author, the acknowledged leader of English architectural historians, takes us easily from the great originals of Greece and Rome to the recapitulations and innovations of the Renaissance, the explosive rhetoric of the Baroque and the grave statements of Neo-classicism; thence to the exuberant eclecticism of the Victorians and Edwardians and, finally, to the ‘stripped Neo-classicism’ of some of the moderns – every age using the classical language to make its own statement.
– John Summerson, The Classical Language of Architecture (Thames and Hudson, 1963/1980/1983), book description
The text is in English. The book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs and architectural drawings.
Our copy in stock is in good condition. The pages are clean, no markings. The glueing of the binding is firm. The covers show only some minor traces of shelf wear.
