Page:A history of architecture on the comparative method for the student, craftsman, and amateur.djvu/14

 Vlll PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION. been a sealed book to many who have wandered amongst the most beautiful creations of the building art without being able to understand their meaning or appreciate their quality— a Grecian temple, a Roman amphitheatre, or a Gothic cathedral recalling to them none of the evidences which render each a reflection of its own period in history, and which give to each ancient building a special attraction, besides adding greatly to the interest and enjoyment of its examination. Architecture has been described very truly as the printing press of all ages, and it appears probable that in these days of enlighten- ment the study of Architectural History will soon take its proper place as part of a liberal education. It is surely remarkable that it should for so long have been neglected, for is it not the art with which everyone is brought into daily contact, which shelters us from the elements and gives us " Home," which enshrines and illuminates the most sacred of our thoughts, which is the outcome of conditions intimately bound up with the history of the human race, and, finally, is it not the mother of all other arts, since from it sprang sculpture, painting, and the decorative crafts of the succeeding ages ? The time spent in the study of the architecture of the past will, therefore, never be regretted, for every ruin tells of the history of other days, and enables the character and conditions of men of past periods to be conjured up, thus opening wide to all students and lovers of old buildings the enjoyment of contem- plating forms which will then have for them a meaning and a charm. I am indebted to my brother, Mr. H. Phillips Fletcher, F.R.I.B.A., for helpful criticism in this edition, and to my pub- lisher for his care in the revision of the bibliography and in the general production of the book. It should, perhaps, be mentioned that, owing to the death of Professor Banister Fletcher, the revision of the fourth and of the present edition has been carried out by me. Banister F. Fletcher. 29, New Bridge Street, LuDGATE Circus, E.C. New Year's Day, 1905.