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Item #42171 The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins. William RICHARDSON.
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The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins
The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins

The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire, from drawings by William Richardson, Archt. With historical descriptions by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A. Lithographed by George Hawkins

York: Robert Sunter, 1843. 2 volumes. Folio. (23 5/8 x 16 7/8 inches). Lithographed Dedication, Contents leaf, explanatory text accompanying each section of plates. Illustrated with 84 plates, of which 34 are full-page hand-coloured plates, 27 are hand-coloured and affixed to text pages, and 23 are with tinted details or uncoloured, and 1 coloured map showing localities of abbeys, etc.

Half brown morocco and cloths, spine with raised bands forming six compartments, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt

A rare, beautifully illustrated work with magnificent hand coloured lithographs, celebrating Yorkshire’s storied architectural heritage.

A monumental visual and historical survey, The Monastic Ruins of Yorkshire is among the most ambitious 19th-century publications devoted to Britain's early architectural heritage. Comprising 84 lithographic plates (61 hand coloured) after on-site drawings by architect William Richardson and lithographed with remarkable sensitivity by George Hawkins, the work offers sweeping, detailed views of the region's most storied monastic sites: Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx, Whitby, Bolton, Kirkstall, and many others. The accompanying texts by the Revd. Edward Churton, M.A., supply rich historical commentary, detailing each abbey's foundation, its monastic order, phases of architectural development, notable benefactors, and the devastation wrought by the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. Yorkshire's landscape, rugged, expansive, and historically wealthy in natural resources, was ideally suited for the growth of monastic communities. From the 12th century onward, the region became a stronghold for the Cistercians, Benedictines, Augustinians, and Premonstratensians, whose abbeys often flourished under aristocratic and royal patronage. Yorkshire's remoteness from court life, its vast agricultural estates, and its political significance as a northern frontier made it a vital religious and economic center in medieval England. These monasteries were not only spiritual havens but also hubs of learning, manuscript production, and agrarian innovation. The prominence of Yorkshire in England's monastic landscape also made it disproportionately affected by the Dissolution (1536-1541), which stripped religious houses of their lands and wealth and left their architectural shells to decay. By the 19th century, these ruins, overgrown, sublime, and emblematic of a vanished order, became focal points of Romantic imagination and national identity. The present work reflects this cultural turn, merging antiquarian interest with a Victorian appreciation for the picturesque. This copy is notable for its original hand colouring. While some examples were issued with colour tinting or were embellished with modern hand colouring, this copy preserves the original hand-colouring.

Abbey Scenery, 381.

Item #42171

Price: $24,000.00

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