Architecture

77 Vols., folio, numerous illustrations throughout, first 6 volumes bound in orig. publishers cloth, re-backed, the rest bound in half hard grain morocco, spines lettered in gilt, some light rubbing but a very nice usable set. A complete run cover the nineteenth-century of this highly important and influential architectural periodical. Originally published as a weekly magazine from 31 December 1842 onward, complete runs such as this are extremely rare. Each volume is illustrated large woodcut illustrations showing newly designed buildings by the major architects of the time. "The most informative and influential works in the field of architecture... incomparable in the scope and range of their coverage, and they form an extraordinary record of aesthetic and cultural progress not only in the United Kingdom but around the world... yet the wealth of architectural information in The Builder... still lies buried in the weekly descriptive reports on literally thousands of buildings that include churches, schools, hospitals, town halls, libraries, market halls, office blocks, factories, private houses, court houses, hotels, workhouses, monuments, public baths, exhibitions halls, clubs, and even cemetery monuments, public parks, and engineering structures. These articles do not appear to have ever been methodically examined or presented in a digital format in a manner that can be easily used by historians, architects, artists, heritage planners, conservation officers, community heritage groups, students, restoration consultants or anyone in the related fields of research or in the building trades."?Robert G. Hill.