Customer Reviews

The Courthouses of Texas

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

 

 

This book made me want to start my quest to visit ALL of the courthouses of Texas. This has become something of a burden to me now. Some of the most beautiful ones are quite remote. Be warned - when you see a really beautiful courthouse - you will want to see more.

The second edition of Dr. Kelsey's guide book to Texas courthouses is a joy, either to carry on your next road trip or to use in browsing Texas's 254 county courthouses from home. Published in 2007 by Texas A&M University Press, the book retains Dr. Kelsey's "Personal Tour" section, but has updated photos, county population, and appendixes.

I agree with "SchylarRex" that Michale Andrews' work, "Historic Texas Courthouses," is excellent. I have it too, and would not want to be without it.

That said, however, I believe it's important to distinguish between the purposes served by "Historic Texas Courthouses" and "The Courthouses of Texas-A Guide." Andrews' book looks at 100 of state's the most architecturally significant historic courthouses. It measures approximately 11 inches by 10.75 inches in height and width. "The Courthouses of Texas" weighs in at 9 x 6 inches and is a handy size to throw in the back back and go. As has been already noted, each of the 254 Texas courthouses is represented.

The Texas Historic Commission website says about the Kelsey and Dyal book: "This is the first resource to buy if you want to go 'courthouseing.'" http://www.texascourthousetrail.com/resources.htm

I hope this helps clear up any confusion that may have inadvertantly resulted from the customer reviews. In my opinion, the two make excellent companions to each other.

In my opinion, the color photos in "The Courthouses of Texas," though only about 2.5" x 3.5" in size, are clear, clean, and uncluttered.

The alphabetical county listing makes finding any particular courthouse easy. The comments retain descriptions of courthouse styles, names of architects, and brief historical notes that you'd not likely pick up when just passing through town.

It's also fun to track down a copy of Coursey Clark's 1962 classic "Courthouses of Texas" (in black and white) for comparison.

On my wish list for third edition of Kelsey and Dyal's great guidebook, I'd suggest adding one feature from Clark's format--tiny outlines of the state and its many counties on each page with the particular county highlighted for easy geographical reference. With so many counties, just keeping up with their location is no easy feat!

Elaine Ward

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in Texas courthouses, especially if you like the historic ones. It is arranged alphabetically and it is easy to navigate through the book. A photo as well as a description of each courthouse illustrates nicely and makes a great guide. Every state should have a book like this!

A must for those interested in the history of Texas county courthouses. Very helpful in planning visits to admire these buildings.

an excellant book on so esoteric a subject. I found the majority of the information provided to be very useful. this book has assissted me on my travels to see these great buildings.

I ordered this item for a Christmas gift, and was really suprised with the speedy delivery. I ordered this one afternoon at work and the next afternoon it was waiting on the porch when I arrived home. WOW !!

Handy little book (will fit nicely by the maps in your car) gives details on all 254 Texas Courthouses. As a Texas traveler, I often stop for a break in town squares and enjoy walking around, but found myself wanting to know more than what might be on a marker. This book will take you beyond that. You will learn the buildings' styles, when they were built, how counties are named as well as many more facinating facts. There is a color photograph of each courthouse. Some are modern, some or not. Some are big and some are not. Some have been rebuilt because of fires, some have had additions; all are interestins in their own way. My copy really does ride along with me on my Texas travels and is my very informative companion. The Courthouses of Texas: A Guide

This book is not bad as a simple guide, but it has no indepth history of the courthouses and the images look very amateurish, but every courthouse, no matter how small, has a requisite image, which is a plus and frankly is what makes this guide worth having. Every courthouse gets a small image, and a small blurb , and i do mean small, about it's style, history and who designed it. If you are really into courthouses, id recommend it i guess, but only if your a real fan. This pales in comparison to the book the Historic Texas Courthouses by Andrews..now that book is GREAT, with interesting text and beautiful images, that book I give five stars...uh whomever gave this review an unhelpful has either never seen this book or is a family member of the author..honestly, I challenge anybody to pick up this book and look at it and not totally agree, and worse yet, the images in this guide are not updated, the picture of the courthouse in Corpus Christi is still under construction, uh it was completed in the mid nineties..an DECADE ago..i mean the authors could not have traveled to Corpus and got an updated image, not doing so is just plain lazy, all this book has different than the first addition is a nicer cover, an update forward, that says nothing really enlightening and a higher price, i mean the images in this book are hardly professional anyway, so really they could have called some random person in Corpus with a dig camera to take the pic and email it them..scan it and put it in the book, it could not have been much more amatuerish than what is in here.

As a professional photographer who specializes in state capitols and county courthouses, I have a number of books from within this niche. This guide to the courthouses of Texas was the first I purchased a decade ago, and it remains a constant companion when I visit courthouses in the Lone Star State.

The book's best feature is its comprehensiveness. Courthouses from all 254 counties are included, with a small image and history included for each. Courthouse aficionados want to see the modern and bland along with the historic and beautiful, and this book certainly delivers on that account.

Several factors, though, lead to the average rating I have provided. First, the book is becoming fairly dated, as quite a few courthouses have been built and quite a few others have been substantially renovated (to the point of being unrecognizable from the image in the book) since its publishing nearly two decades ago. Second, the quality of the photographs leaves much to be desired, with many images having the feeling of having been photographed by someone who merely rolled down the window of a car and shot. Third, as I have started doing my own research for my collection, I have started uncovering more errors than I'd be comfortable seeing -- a misspelling here, a building misidentified there, historical facts slightly off, etc. Fourth, the book is pretty random when choosing which building to highlight when a county has a newer and blander functioning courthouse and an older, more historic building which formerly served as the county courthouse.

Nevertheless, if you're planning on visiting Lipscomb and Mentone and Orange and all points in between, this book is a must-have.