Customer Reviews

Great Gothic Cathedrals of France: A Visitor's Guide

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Stan Parry has done a fantastic job of tying together the history and architecture of the great Gothic cathedrals of France. He has meticulously researched the material and has included many amazingly beautiful and detailed photographs. His expertise and great enthusiasm are clearly evident throughout. Truly a pleasure to read and a volume to treasure.

For those who like Gothic Cathederals and plan a trip to France this book is an excellent guide. The book is not only a great detailed guide to all the major Cathedrals in France but it also gives a very good history of Gothic Cathedral building. It also nicely compares the different cathedrals and places them sequentially in the Gothic period timeframe. It is obvious the author is enthusiastic about the history of the architecure and I think that any person interested in Gothic architecture will appreciate this.

Stan Parry's book reads like a book of love, and in a sense, it is. The book does a remarkable job of introducing, describing, and illustrating many of France's greatest gothic cathedrals (particularly those in the north and north-central regions) in a style that is as lively and engaging as it is informative. My wife and I used this book to help craft our original cathedral "hunting" trips in France during the past decade, and it served us well not only in determining which edifices to visit, but also in providing some wonderful background and insights into each of the locations. I feel greatly enriched by having gone through this book, and it would be wonderful to see if Mr. Parry would consider extending the work to a new volume that might cover some additional locales in France. But for anyone interested in gothic architecture, particularly those just starting out on first trips to actual locations, this volume is a no-brainer, and my congratulations to Stan Parry for putting his "labor of love" into print for others to use.

Read the book first, before you travel, and then make your choices after having considered everything you have read. To make it easier, remember that every structure Parry covers in this book is easily and quickly reachable by train from Paris. Make Paris your base of operations, then pick up the train at one of the major train stations in the city (Gare de Lyon, Gare Montparnasse, Gare du Nord, etc.), leave early in the morning, and you'll be able to reach your cathedral destination in 90 minutes or less. Return back to the city in the later afternoon, and you'll be ready to visit a new place the next day.

This book was borrowed from the local library and the color photos impressed me greatly. The book I ordered and received from National Book Warehouse was exactly the same as the library volume but the quality of the cover and all photos was unacceptable to poor; it was printed in Hong Kong by a Japanese firm and not by Viking-Penguin.
I paid a bargain price, but, given the poor quality, it was a "bad buy."

Book as described. Quick ship. Packaged very well. Thank you for excellent transactions from beginning to end. Would not hesitate to purchase from again.