N.d., circa 1870s. 8vo, 260 pp. The gifted, energetic and controversial Viollet-le-Duc had a profound effect on architectural thought. Responsible for the restoration of Reims Cathedral and the ambitious, successful restoration and appreciation of the Medieval walled city of Carcassone, Voillet-le-Duc was more concerned with capturing the beauty and overarching finest qualities of the past rather than the fine details that were strictly-speaking historically accurate. In this he was at loggerheads with the more literal purist, the art critic John Ruskin, whose views have in recent times been more in favor despite his not having been a trained architect. In any case, this book is one of the best surveys of the anatomy of house and is especially good in describing the various trades which contribute to the building of a house. Organized as a novelistic dialogue, the treatment also superbly avoids the trap of a dry exegesis that usually afflicts even popular surveys. Clean and tight within. Light sunning to the spine. Minor repair of the upper spine tip was made.