Past Events

Pevsner Architectural Guides: Birmingham and the Black Country Book Launch

Lecture, Book Night – Andy Foster, Simon Bradley, James Davies

  • 26 April 2022
  • 6:00 – 7:30 pm
  • Online launch for Andy Foster’s revised Birmingham and the Black Country volume in the Buildings of England series, published by Yale University Press.

Andy Foster will discuss the latest Pevsner volume with Simon Bradley, joint editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides. Unusually for the series, the new book covers a region which was shared originally among three historic counties: Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The revised edition therefore takes a different approach from Pevsner's original county series, paying close attention to local traditions, placemaking and architectural identity, as well as addressing many decades of change since the 1960s and 1970s entries were compiled.

As a native of Birmingham and lifelong resident in the West Midlands, Andy has brought exceptional knowledge and expertise to the task, and the book will be a revelation even to those already familiar with the region's architectural diversity. The evening will also include a contribution from James O. Davies, whose photographs for the volume have again captured the character and qualities of the region's best buildings.

Yale University Press is delighted to offer attendees of the Paul Mellon Centre’s virtual launch a special discount price for the new Pevsner guide to Birmingham and the Black Country. Attendees will receive a discount code with their Eventbrite confirmation email.

RRP £45.00 | OFFER PRICE £35.00

UK orders only. Free P&P. Code valid until from 26 April until 07 May 2022

This event will take the form of a Zoom Webinar. A recording will be made available a few weeks after the event once we caption it.


The best way to keep an eye out is to subscribe to our YouTube channel and you’ll get a notification when it is live. We also host the recording on our website.

About the speakers

  • Andy Foster was born in Birmingham and brought up in Sutton Coldfield. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a member of Lichfield Diocesan Advisory Committee and Birmingham Archdiocese's historic churches committee. His Pevsner City Guide to Birmingham was published in 2005.

  • Head and shoulders portrait of Simon Bradley.

    Simon Bradley FSA joined the Pevsner series in 1994. His own revised volumes include London 1: The City of London, London 6: Westminster, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire: Oxford and the South East. He has also published on the Gothic Revival, drawing on his PhD thesis, and on railways and railway buildings including St Pancras Station (2006), The Railways: Nation, Network and People (2015) and Bradley's Railway Guide: A Journey Through Two Centuries of British Railway History, 1825–2025 (2024). 

  • James Davies has worked as an architectural photographer for thirty years. He has published widely, with books on English prisons, tin mining, post-war buildings, Stonehenge, and many Pevsner volumes, as well as in magazines including Wallpaper, World of Interiors, Country Life, and Blueprint.