Overview
Hardcover in Good Condition
This is a special format book designed to acquaint the general reader with the principles, design evolution, and architectural features of medieval cathedral construction. It contains an amazing wealth of information considering that it is only 36 pages long!
This is the first book on these delicate and monumental structures that clearly explains the physical forces that the builders had to overcome, and how they solved the problems of load, thrust, and oblique forces. In the process, they found they could lighten these structures even as they were building them larger and larger.
The book contains detailed, 3 dimensional drawings illustrating each of the technical points, as well as the building techniques and architectural features.
What's more, the text manages to place all this in an historical and socio-political context. Quite an accomplishment for such a slender volume. It many ways, it emulates the structures it discusses.