Description

Robert Willis' monumental architectural history of the University of Cambridge, first published in 1886 in a revised and extended edition by his nephew J. W. Clark, was hailed as 'one of the most important contributions to the social and intellectual history of England which has ever been made by a Cambridge man.' Although Willis and Clark has always been recognised by architectural historians as one of the greatest studies of the buildings of a single historic city, its wider importance and status are also being recognised by those interested generally in the conservation of buildings and in the historic development of architectural style and taste. Its unique collection of over three hundred plans, antique and specially commissioned engravings is alone sufficient to make this an indispensable work of reference on Cambridge architecture before the onset of the modern age. The first three volumes were reprinted with an introduction by Professor David Watkin in 1988, but that hardback edition lacked the fourth volume of maps. The new paperback reprint brings all four volumes of this classic text together again for the first time since the 19th century.