Lanterna Rally

Author: J. Starkie Gardner

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-04

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9781330669877

Excerpt from Ironwork: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Mediaeval Period Although the literature of iron is extensive, its history, either as a craft or a fine art, has not been written - a fact which, contrasted with the number of works devoted to gold and silver, appears remarkable. Monsieur F. Liger, who has kindly lent many illustrations from La Ferronnerie, made a serious effort to deal with it exhaustively, but he only brought the history down to the time of the collapse of the Western Empire; and as no further volume has been issued since 1875, it would appear either that he has relinquished the task or that the difficulties in his path are exceedingly great. Dr. Ludwig Beck published, in 1884, what might almost be regarded as an abridged edition of Liger's work, with a short addendum on the ironwork of the Middle Ages. The Bibliotheque des Merveilles includes a small volume on Le Fer, by M. Jules Garnier, 1878;and ten years later, Professor Meyer, of Carlsruhe, published a handbook on Schmiedekunst. In England there is a text-book on Blacksmithing in Weale's series;and Mr. Parker, of Oxford, to whom I am indebted for the loan of several illustrations, published, in 1858, La Serrurerie du Moyen Age, by Raymond Bordeaux - a work consisting of a series of interesting plates of mediaeval hinges in England and France, with descriptive text. With these exceptions, the subject can only be studied in stray chapters and illustrations in periodicals, works on metallurgy and art, and the portfolios of illustrations that have appeared on ironwork, especially in Germany, and in recent years. While this paucity of literature has rendered the preparation of a handbook a matter of some difficulty, the fact may not detract from its interest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."