Francis Bond Wood Carvings in English Churches

Annotation

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. Owing to the liberality of many friends it has been possible to illustrate the book lavishly with photographs; in justice to them it should be added that photographs of misericords are taken under most difficult conditions; the high average excellence of the results is the more deserving of commendation. To reproduce the photographs the half-tone process is adopted; this necessitates loaded paper, which no one regrets more than the writer. Of the mediaeval misericords vast numbers have perished; e.g., of those formerly in the quire of Westminster Abbey all but one have gone. The fine examples at St Nicholas, Lynn, were sold by the churchwardens in 1853; they are now to be seen in the museum of the Architectural Association in Tufton Street, Westminster. Advertise ments of misericords for sale have appeared in quite recent times. Yet a large number fortunately survive. It is to be hoped that this book may increase interest in these carvings and arrest the work of mutilation and destruction. But decay is ever at work, and there is always the risk of fire, and wherever misericords remain, those in authority would do well to adopt the course taken at Beverley Minster, Worcester, Gloucester, and Ely cathedrals, and have every example carefully photographed. As will be seen from the Bibliography, the literature of the subject is scattered over a vast number of papers and articles in the transactions of archaeological societies, some of them unindexed, and many difficult of access; so far as the writer knows, all these sources have been examined. Mr G. C. Druce has contributed expert criticism to the improvement of the text.