Percy Brown
Indian Architecture: Buddhist and Hindu.
Bombay: D. B. Taraporevala Sons & Co. Private Ltd., 1956. Third edition, revised. xiv/262 pages.
Large-format volume, measuring approximately 9.5" x 11.5", is bound in brown pebble cloth, with yellow lettering to spine and front cover. Book displays very light shelfwear. Binding is firm. Lightly age-toned pages are clean and without markings. Illustrated with b&w (photographic) plates This edition contains an appendix, a glossary of terms and an index. Dust jacket is intact and preserved in glassine cover, with minor loss of said cover at head of spine panel. Small tear and very minor loss to jacket is visible at top rear spine edge. Rear panel of jacket exhibits mild crease.
"The Late Mr. Percy Brown needs no introduction to Indian students nor to those outside India who are acquainted with the arts of this country. His publications, such as "Indian Painting" and "Indian Painting under the Moghuls", are authoritative works. He was the Secretary and Curator of the Victoria Memorial Hall, Calcutta, and was formerly the Principal of the Government School of Art, and the Keeper of the Government Art Gallery, Calcutta.
Mr. Brown spent a life-time on the survey of the building art in India and the result of his researches are this volume and the accompanying Volume, "Indian Architecture, Islamic Period." He has also contributed chapters on "Indian Architecture" in the Cambridge History of India.
Mr. Brown's masterly review of the subject extends to every development of ideas of architecture in India and the sources from which they were derived. The Volumes are illustrated by numerous photographic reproductions of the most important examples of architecture in the country. What makes this work so interesting in the number of drawings and diagrams prepared under the directions of the author and explanatory of the text.
As an artist, Mr. Brown was in a unique position for explaining the subject by conjectural restoration of some of the well-known architectural remains in India. These drawings, prepared from reliable sources combined with his personal research, for the first time give a visual demonstration of many of the well-known monuments of the country now in ruins and enable the reader to imagine what they must have looked like when they were in perfect condition."