Unidentified photographer
1862Back of the book cover for William & Mary Howitt, 1862,
Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain, (London: A.W. Bennett)
Book cover, back
British LibraryShelfmark: C.44.d.8
This view of the back cover of the mid-Victorian book “Ruined Abbeys and Castles of Great Britain” published in 1862 shows its rich binding of purple stamped with gold. A worn photographic roundel in the centre is an unidentifed view of ecclesiastical ruins set amid forests and hills. It is framed by four vignetted shields bearing the symbols of a bishop's mitre and crook, an abbey bell and cross, a knight's sword and helmet, and a castle portcullis and spear. The book contains interesting historical essays by the Quaker poets and authors William and Mary Howitt, illustrated with 27 mounted photographs by W. Russell Sedgfield, George Washington Wilson, Francis Bedford, McLean & Melhuish, and Roger Fenton. A second volume published in 1864 contains photographs by Sedgfield, Stephen Thompson, Thomas Ogle, and William Despard Hemphill.
LL/62532
