Pevsner Guides Completed

With the publication of the volume on Staffordshire, we are delighted to announce and celebrate the completion of the monumental task of revising all of the original Pevsner Architectural Guides to the Buildings of England, a project which began in 1983 with publication of the new volume for south London. In total, fifty-six fully revised and updated guides have been published in the English series. In the same period fifteen volumes have been published for the Buildings of Scotland, seven for the Buildings of Wales, and thirteen guides to cities in England, as well as six volumes in the Buildings of Ireland series and one for the Isle of Man. Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art are extremely proud to have partnered on this landmark achievement of scholarship and publishing, fulfilling Nikolaus Pevsner’s aspirations for the future development of the guides for a new generation. Containing new research that updates and considerably expands the original volumes, alongside newly commissioned colour photography, the new and revised books present in a clear and accessible way a survey of the rich architectural heritage of England, Scotland and Wales. Through these books, the aim has always been to provide the general reader and the expert with informative and easy-to-use gazetteers of every structure of significance, from the prehistoric to the present day.

The Buildings of England guides have had two publishers in their long history: Penguin (the first guides to Cornwall, Middlesex and Nottinghamshire were published in 1951) and, from 2002, Yale University Press. Since taking over from the Pevsner Books Trust in 2012, the Paul Mellon Centre has financially supported the research, writing and photography of the new volumes whilst Yale University Press has supported the editorial and publication costs of the revised guides and the new volumes for Scotland and Wales. Such a complex publishing task has been made possible by the commitment of the joint series editors, Simon Bradley and Charles O’Brien who, as well as writing and editing volumes themselves, have overseen the work of a large group of authors and photographers for more than two decades.

We congratulate everyone involved with the incredible achievement of completing the task of revising and expanding the second series of the Buildings of England and the completion of the first series for Scotland and Wales. We also look forward to the further development and completion of the Buildings of Ireland series. It is with immense pleasure and pride that we see these books being used not only by students, scholars, architects, developers, planners, conservationists, property agents, civic and amenity societies but also members of the public across the world. Building on our multi-million-pound investment in the revised guides, we are committed to keeping the books in print and promoting them widely.

Heather McCallum and Sarah Victoria Turner, (Managing Director, Yale University Press London & Director, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art)