The Poetry of Architecture: or, the Architecture of the Nations of Europe considered in its Association with Natural Scenery and National Character

London: George Allen, 1893. First edition. Brochure/Pamphlet. Very Good Indeed. 11.5" by 8.5" . John Ruskin. First authorised edition of this large paper study of architecture and natural scenery by renowned art critic John Ruskin. Collection of essays by John Ruskin concerned with European architecture, with focus on cottages and chimneys as well as villas with the argument that buildings should be in harmony with their immediate environment and use local materials.Illustrated with coloured frontispiece as well as fourteen further photogravures and other illustrations in text. Collated, complete. The first authorised edition, published together with a limited edition bound in half vellum. Large paper copy. John Ruskin was an influential Victorian figure in English culture. He was a prolific author on subjects as varied as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and political economy. In all of his writing, he emphasised the connections between nature, art and society. From the library of Doctor Malcolm Higgs, an important architectural historian who worked as an assistant architect to Stirling & Gowan, working on their particularly renowned Leicester University Engineering Laboratory. During his long career he taught at the University of Edinburgh School of Architecture, Canterbury School of Architecture, and University of Nottingham. Later in his life he was the Vice-President and Honorary Librarian of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and contributed and edited the "Journal of Architecture". In the original publisher's full cloth binding. Externally very smart with light bumping to head and tail of spine and extremities. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright and clean with light odd faint spotting affecting only endpapers. Very Good Indeed