Customer Reviews

Castles of the Western World: With 240 Illustrations (Dover Architecture)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I ordered this book as a surprise for my son's 15th birthday. I only wish that Castles of the Western World had been a "peek-inside book." The front cover aside, there are no color pictures (which is not a bad thing, but the photos displayed are quite dull). I am no professional photographer, but the subjects of black and white photos must be composed and presented artfully, but the pictures in this book are not. This book has all the appeal of an old textbook--without the requisite dust.

The title should be called "The History of Castles" (but that title was already taken by a better book). There is a great deal of text (about 1/2 the pages) detailing the development of castles from Roman & other origins up until the age of gunpowder. Its true that there are NO color pictures. Half of the illustrations are detailed sketches of basic floorplans, sectionals, or reconstruction images. The other half of the illustrations are mostly outside pictures of castles. Although the pictures are adequate, they do seem dated and often boring, as another reviewer mentioned. There is only one picture of each castle mentioned, which is never enough to do it justice. This is a book written by a scholar and for a scholar. Don't get this book if you are looking for world-famous castles like Neuschwanstein, Chambord, Sintra, etc. They are not in there. Actually, after reading my own review, I'm going to give the book only 2 stars instead of the 3 I was planning on giving it.

This is a very well written, detailed book about 'real' castles, rather than the 19th century 'fantasy' castles such as Neuschwanstein and the Brighton Pavilion. It traces the development of the castle-fortresses of Europe from ancient times to the rise of gunpowder. So any castle built from the Renaissance onwards is not included in this book. And rightly so, since the subject of the book is the medieval fortresses of (mostly) Northern Europe.

A real highlight of the book are the reconstructions and ground plans of lesser known German castles of the early middle ages. This information is just not available in the English-speaking world. As other reviewers have mentioned, the photos are not in colour, but this is meant to be a source book for those interested in researching castle forms, not a pretty coffee table book. The old black and white photos are stunning, typical of the black and white photography of the 1940's and 1950's. I found this an advantage, since the castles are photographed without the modern intrusions that have occurred since the 1960's and 1970's. With plenty of colour photos of castles available in other books, or even online for free, I don't see how this would cause a problem for anyone wanting colour photos. One must bear in mind this book is a reprint of one published in 1958. As such, it is typical of books from that era.

Chapters include the castles of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Austria, Britain and the Low Countries. As I mentioned earlier, the inclusion of lesser known castles, such as those of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, are particularly appreciated by the reader.

If you're interested in the development of the castle as a fortress-palace with detailed information, ground plans, beautiful black and white photos and excellent reconstruction drawings in pen and ink, this book is for you. I think people looking for information on castles with fantasy role playing in mind, this is better than any gaming book on castles around. For me this is better than any large, pretty coffee table book on the Loire Chateaux or Neuschwanstein.

I love castles and these are just absolutely beautiful. They give you the feeling that you want to live in them - bar the drafty rooms, etc. Also, they make you wonder who might have lived in them and what kind of history the castles have. If I ever have the good fortune to travel to any of these places, I would most definitely look up these castles.