The Alhambra / being a brief record of the Arabian conquest of the Peninsula with a particular account of the Mohammedan architecture and decoration

by Albert Frederick Calvert

“The book gives a vivid idea of the present state and former magnificence of Moorish buildings in the three Spanish cities which its author now describes; while the illustrations, which include upwards of eighty coloured plates, and an immense number of photographic halftones, are exceptionally good.”—Standard.

“An examination of the book reveals at once the fact that it is very well illustrated; while the author brings to his work an unmistakable freshness and vigour, brought about by prolonged visits to the places described, and gives evidence of the possession of the observing eye and a facility for expressive description.”—Evening Standard.

“It is really impossible to do justice, in a journal of this kind, to the sumptuous volume (its price is two guineas and the book is worth it) before us. To do that—to give the reader any adequate notion of the beauty of the illustrations with which it is enriched—we should have to summon all the resources of the colour printer’s art to our assistance, in order to reproduce them in a special edition de luxe of the “P.M.G.” Inasmuch as that is not to be done, we must ask the reader to take it on trust from us that the illustrations of Moorish decorative art are something quite out of the common.... The making of this book must, surely, have been a labour of love; and love’s labour has certainly not been lost.”—Pall Mall Gazette.

“Qui multum peregrinatur, raro sanctificatur runs the old monkish saw; but we find its living contradiction in Mr. Calvert. This modern Jason set out to Western Australia in quest of gold. Adventuring into deserts, he found what he sought and returned home content, only to set forth again on further pilgrimages; which, if the evidence of our eyes is to be trusted, have resulted in the discovery of still more gold. Verily there is a profusion of it in this book; but its liberal use has paid the fee of sanctification. We cheerfully admit Mr. Calvert into the ranks of those whom posterity will applaud for delightful yet unprofitable work.”—Outlook.

“This valuable and profusely-illustrated volume is designed to be the companion and complementary volume to the same author’s work on the Alhambra.... Mr. Calvert’s frequent and protracted visits to Spain caused him to realise that the Moors were not a one-city nation, and that there were splendid remains of earlier Mohammedan architecture and decoration in Cordova, Seville, and Toledo. Moorish work of these three cities forms the theme of the present volume, in which, as in the book on the Alhambra, the letterpress is made subservient to the illustrations. The supply of pictures is at once lavish and excellent.... The colouring and the elaboration of the designs of various schemes of Moorish ornamentation, apart from general architectural effects, are often marvellous, and almost bewildering, both in the boldness of their conception and in the intricacy of their pattern.”—Guardian.

“Mr. Calvert has produced a beautiful book.... It is illustrated with so lavish a richness of colour that to turn its pages gives one at first almost the same impression of splendour as one receives in wandering from hall to hall of the Alcazar of Seville: and this is probably the highest compliment we could pay to the book or its author.”—Academy.

“This is one of the books to which a simply literary review cannot pretend to do justice. Mr. Calvert gives a brief record of the Moorish conquest of Spain, but the main purpose of his book is to bring before the English reader the art, architectural and decorative, of the people.... In this volume he deals with and presents, with great wealth of illustration, the relics of their achievement in Cordova, Seville, and Toledo.... The book seems worthy of the subject, and we would gladly give a more effective description of its many beauties.”—Spectator.

“As a production it is, without doubt, one of the most beautiful we have seen, the illustrations and colour printing, being exquisite. The author evidently knows his subject well, as the description in detail of Cordova, Seville, and Toledo range far and above any other publication. It is certainly one of the most interesting books of the year.”—Crown.

“A truly sumptuous volume.”—Speaker.

“This sumptuous volume.”—Westminster Gazette.