where works have been carried out their effects are easier to ascertain, but does not take into account the question of evidence lost through the works (could a local planning authority refuse a listed building consent application for works already carried out on the grounds of inadequate information due to evidence destroyed?).He does not deal with the 'window replacement' problem where it is the contractor rather than the unwitting owner (who has been advised by him that consent is not required) who instigates the unauthorised works. The minor faults in what is otherwise a very good book are largely due to the inevitable delays in the publishing process. Conservation Officers requiring up-to-date information in a fast-changing field (no discussionof satellite dishes here!) will need to look elsewhere as well, but the casedata and discussionof the issues in Mynors' book will remain valid. The question remains whether the very finite form of a book is the most appropriate for this field; surely the law with its constant stream of amendments and new casesis an ideal candidate for information technology? John Preston FANLIGHTS Alexander Stuart Gray andJohn Sambrook (A & C Black, 1990). 148pp. ISBN 0-71363077-9. £12.95. This book is described as the first monograph on the subject, but it was preceded last year by a book on the same subject by one of the same authors and published under an identical title in the 'Chatto Curiosities' series. (Reviewed in Context 25, p 34). Those readers who bought John Sambrook's earlier book will want to know what is new in this rather more expensive if larger format hardback. The answer is not a lot. In an introduction, Anthony Stuart Gray traces the origins of fanlights and skips rather lightly over their significance in English and American architecture. There are few documentary sources for investigating the developments of the fanlight but Gray ascribes rather too much inspiration to Brunalleschi, Donatello and Robert Adam and not enough to the more prosaic James Gibbs, Battey Langley and more humble and obscure pattern book writers. There is also some nonsense about the relationship of 18th century architecture and music in general and between Robert Adam and Mozart in particular. John Sambrook's essay covers similar ground to his earlier book but with the advantagethat there is a little more explanaCONTEXT 27 One of Charlotte Halliday's pen and ink sketches from 'Fanlights'. tion of the techniques and problems of repair. It is very unfortunate that an opportunity was missed to illustrate this in any way. There is also no explanation of the decline of fanlights, brought on by the introduction of plate glass around 1839. Neither the earlier book nor this one has anything useful to say about lanterns in fanlights. This is an aspect of doorway design and conservation which deserves further serious study. For each city Sambrook gives a brief pen portrait, while at the end Tony Birks-Hay contributes a short essayon the fanlights co be found all across New England in the Colonial and Federal periods. The principal attraction of the book is the numerous pencil and ink-wash sketches by Charlotte Halliday of fanlights from London, 'Country Towns', Bath, Bristol, Edinburgh New Town and Dublin. Attractive as these are, one longed for some of the dazzling pencilwork co be replaced by some good close-up phorographic details and comparisons with 18th century pattern book designs which had been such an illuminating aspect of Sambrook's earlier study. This is a book which will interest the serious layman, but all-in-all it promises more than it delivers. While it would be nice co have both books for reference I think Sambrook's Chatro book will be the one Conservation Officers will turn to. GOOD AND PROPER MATERIALS - THE FABRIC OF LONDON SINCE THE GREAT FIRE The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments for England in association with The London Topographical Society.Report no 140, 1989. 70 pp. ISBN 0-902087-274. £5.95. Despite the substantial literature on the hiscory and development of London, little study has been devoted to the materials used in its buildings. The six papers (several commendably illustrated in colour) brought together here are based on a day seminar organised by the Survey of London and held at the Society of Antiquaries in October 1988. They deal with what is described as the structural envelope of everyday life - the common building materials which, after the Great Fire, established London's character: the manufacture and use of London stock brick, stucco, terracotta and faience, structural carpentry, the application of iron to traditional construction, some of the services and furnishings in Victorian houses, and - rather the odd one out - how the Brookings Collection of architectural details can be applied to the dating of original construction and later alterations. Fashions and innovations set by London buildings and,he introduction oflegislation such as the Metropolitan Building Acts frequently influence manufactured goods, construction methods and taste well beyond the Capital. This useful publication which "illuminates much that is so common place as to be obscure" will be of interest not just to Conservation Officers in London but to anyone interested in the archaeological exploration of buildings of the 18th and 19th centuries. Good value. ARCHITECTURAL GUIDES TO LONDON & PARIS Renzo Salvadori. (Butterworth Architecture, 1990). 120 and 130 pp respectively. ISBN 0-408-50056-5 and 0-408-50068-0. £8.95 each. These two paperbacks are part of a series which also includes Rome, Florence and Venice. As Conservation Officers spend their holidays studying historic buildings in foreign parts, it is appropriate that, for example, Paris is reviewed here as well as London. All the books are written by Italian architects and it is interesting to see how they have set about choosing their buildings. The guides are described as indispens11
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