Professor James Stevens Curl - Architectural Historian & Author

‘The Victorian Celebration of Death is a beautifully decorated volume ... Mr Curl’s book combines wit with compassion – the art, incidentally, of the great humorists. His research into the periphery of the outward manifestation of funeralia is minute and fascinating. He proceeds from Father Abraham to cremation with scarcely a jolt and his reportage of the cemeteries ... makes his elegant book an acceptable companion to the non-eternal bedside’ Caryl Brahms in The Guardian (3 April 1972)

‘The Victorian Celebration of Death... is ... a most entertaining and enterprising book - a book finely produced, moreover, with a mass of apt and enlightening illustrations...In these days of chronic over-production one cannot often say that a book fills a genuine gap, but in this case it is true. Mr Curl ... has much to say of interest, and has rescued so much absorbing information from oblivion... that I can only recommend you to acquire his book; it is entirely delightful’ Martin Fagg in The Church Times (30 March 1972)

‘The Victorian Celebration of Death... is ... lucid and entertaining. Curl has done a great deal of research on the formation of the private companies that established rural necropoleis...’ Cedric Flower in The Bulletin (22 July 1972)

‘The pleasures of the cemetery ... here a thrilling note is struck. out comes pouring from the great black cornucopia of Victorian agony the horrific paraphernalia of pompes funèbres, presented in The Victorian Celebration of Death as well ordered as any sumptuous funeral. This well-researched book...describes some associated delights ... Mr Curl’s taste for the eerie flows beneath a level literary style. His literary personality is modest and unobtrusive, as befits his subject’ Alfred Brew in the Times Educational Supplement (31 March 1972)

On Victorian Architecture

‘Victorian Architecture...is an agreeably written, well-researched, and off-beat illustrated account of the ingenious and gargantuan ... works of architectural moralists and engineering geniuses. Mr Curl deals lovingly with esoteric details as well as with the larger-than-life men and their vast schemes’ The Sunday Times (2 December 1973)

‘Mr James Stevens Curl has made a notable addition to the growing number of books on Victorian Architecture. He writes well – his book is intensely readable ... this is a very good book to have on one’s shelf’ Robert Furneaux Jordan in The Architects' Journal (5 December 1973)

‘Mr Curl pursues his robustly-argued case closely, passionately, and with a loving scope...’ Michael McNay in The Guardian (20 December 1973)

On The Erosion of Oxford

‘... books like this one are necessary to make us see through the dogmas to the physical reality of what is happening today’ Gavin Stamp in The Architectural Review (June 1978)

On English Architecture: An Illustrated Glossary

‘Mr Curl’s Glossary is refreshingly free from tiresome wordiness, and the value of his succinct entries is enhanced by some 300 exceptionally clear illustrations ... Entries are short, pithy, and always lucid. Mr Curl has mastered the difficult art of conveying in a relatively small space all that it is absolutely necessary to say.

This work is far more than an illustrated assembly of technical terms: apart from its considerable value as a reliable reference book, it more than repays the attention of the casual browser, for so many pages reveal new aspects of familiar examples, drawn from our immense treasury of ancient buildings, and so many terms stimulate fresh thoughts about our architectural past and our often peculiar architectural present.

For students, for teachers, and for all those who enjoy a vital interest in architectural history and development, this book should provide a stimulating experience...’ John Gloag in The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (September 1977)

‘An essential book ... The most readable, visually attractive, and concise of dictionaries ... It explains clearly... the finer aspects ... of architecture ...’ The Architects' Journal (27 July 1977)

‘At a time when professionals are perhaps a good deal less literate in the language of building than they should be, it is good that an authoritative glossary should have been produced in an easy-going format. The illustrations are useful, mercifully unfamiliar, and may help to make ignorant mistakes less likely. The author takes the reader from Abaciscus ... to Yetts and Zotheca. This book is a desirable possession for those intent on intellectual one-upmanship and essential knowledge for all involved in conservation. Highly recommended’ A. A. Wood in The Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute (September 1977)

On Moneymore and Draperstown. The Architecture and Planning of the Ulster Estates of the Drapers’ Company and The History, Architecture, and Planning of the Estates of the Fishmongers’ Company in Ulster

‘In the two Companies selected by Curl for study the developments resulted in some works of architectural distinction of the neoclassical type, especially in the work of W. J. Booth and Jesse Gibson at Moneymore and Draperstown... and in that of Richard Suter at Ballykelly ... These monographs are so informative that they prompt the hope that the whole story of the participation of London Companies in the development of urban settlements in Ulster will be told...’ Arnold Whittick in the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts (October 1982)

On A Celebration of Death

‘A richly illustrated book ... Apart from its intrinsic interest, Mr Curl’s Celebration reveals an important historical point, the role of funerary architecture in the development of architectural style...Mr Curl has paid due regard to the tomb. I salute his study and recommend it for a fresh look at immortality’ Patrick Nuttgens in The Times (11.2.80)

‘A source of wonder and delight...The book’s publication should itself be celebrated, for its virtues are many and important’ Christopher Ricks in The Sunday Times (10.2.80)

‘James Stevens Curl has established his credentials in this field ... Mr Curl brings to his subject the zest which it demands. He is more than half in love with his subject, and the excellence of his illustrations fitly complements his text ... a prodigious quantity of information is here assembled, as never before in English’ Maurice Craig in The Times Literary Supplement (29.2.80)

‘An admirable culmination of research over several years...a fascinating study’ Derek Linstrum in The Yorkshire Post (18.1.80)

‘...the book is timely and important ... Mr Curl has tackled a neglected and largely uncharted subject, and he has drawn attention to much splendid...architecture...I admire the book...’ Gavin Stamp in The Spectator (22.3.80)

‘Funerary architecture is not well documented. James Stevens Curl is, in fact, one of the few writers to have made a speciality out of his interest in this subject...The book’s 400 or so pages are packed with fascinating information’ Stone Industries (March 1980)

‘A most astonishing work on funerary architecture ... of a positively noble scope and sweep and scale’ John O’Callaghan in The Oxford Times (15.2.80)

‘This is a large and beautifully illustrated book...Mr Curl’s taste is very catholic indeed...his text is a useful and interesting presentation of very valuable material. He is excellent on Père-Lachaise, and writes with warmth and perception about all the grander aspects of his subject’ Philip Toynbee in The Observer (24.2.80)

‘...a remarkably comprehensive survey of the subject’ Gillian Darley in The Financial Times (8.3.80)

‘Mr Curl comes into his own in ferreting out the unknown and the unexpected ... his book is a source of constant, never morbid, fascination’ The Economist (29.3.80)

‘...a remarkable book by James Stevens Curl ... a study of funerary architecture in the Western European tradition, sparingly entitled A Celebration of Death. I reviewed it at some length in The Times, and anyone who reads that paper will know the high opinion I formed of the book’ Patrick Nuttgens in The Times Higher Education Supplement (21.8.81)

‘... a unique work with a striking thesis ... by a distinguished Irish architect, an honored scholar of his art and urban history’ Edmund Fuller in The Wall Street Journal

‘James Stevens Curl’s A Celebration of Death is a perfect complement to Ariès’ study and affords an encyclopaedic view of buildings, monuments, and settings of funerary architecture ... Pictorially well conceived, descriptively rich in anecdotes and information, and culturally meaningful, Curl’s book synthesises art and ideology’ Siegfried Mandel in the San Diego Magazine (May 1981)

‘ ... extremely well researched and presented mixture of socio-history and architectural history ... almost always ... fascinating and readable...We are delighted to be able to recommend this work most highly...’ Antiques & The Arts Weekly (28.11.80)

‘Scribner’s has long been regarded as a class publishing house, and nowhere in recent memory does its professionalism come more quickly to the fore than in James Stevens Curl’s A Celebration of Death. Amply illustrated... the book gives new insight into some of the Western world’s most stunning monuments to the dead. Accompanying the illustrations is Mr Curl’s text, which is a study in clarity, historical acumen, and how a writer can combine elegant prose with utter clarity without creating a style that is either overblown or banal. A good book... it is ... interesting, highly informative, and craftsmanlike in all respects’ American Director New York (October 1980)

‘In 1972 Mr. Curl published The Victorian Celebration of Death, an account of the beginnings of the Victorian cemetery movement ... At that time the subject had barely been examined, certainly never in such depth...The Victorian Celebration provided the initial spark for many of those now involved in this field; and it may fairly be said that with that book Mr. Curl created cemetery studies as a scholarly discipline. ‘Now he has brought out a sequel, which greatly expands the range of what must now be called funerary studies. Historians of landscape will be grateful for such a mass of information gathered into one compass ... Mr. Curl has painted an enthralling picture ... I cannot leave the subject without commenting on a Celebration as a physical object. it is a beautiful piece of bookmaking ... Potential publishers of books on garden history ought to examine this volume as an exemplary specimen’ Brent Elliott in Garden History viii/3 (Winter 1980)

A Celebration of Death... ‘the monumental work now before us cannot but be welcomed... the immense amount of research that has gone into the present publication is clear ... In all the rich variety of illustration and scholarly comment which is placed before us one message comes over as clear as the last trump - a monument is intended to be a lasting memorial ... This ... book... is an important and timely publication which deserves to play a significant part in ensuring a proper appreciation of, and greater respect for, our neighbours’ landmarks’ C. F. Stell in The Antiquaries Journal lxi Pt.1 (1981)

‘It’s not exactly graves and graveyards, and in a sense it is festive in that it’s about celebration. It is a celebration of lives that are over and finished. Much of the world’s greatest architecture has been about death; much of the world’s greatest music has been about death. Think of the Taj Mahal, think of the Verdi Requiem, think of Gray’s Elegy, think of things like the Lament of Art O’Leary, and we realise how death has given rise to a great deal of fine art. This book is not so much about graveyards as about monuments and tombs, above all, of course, mausolea. The author covers the whole of Europe and a little of the near east, as well as places outside Europe. He says in his preface that his whole appetite for the subject was whetted by a childhood spent in the melancholy landscape of Ireland: and Ireland is rich in funerary architecture of one sort or another. The author has covered his subject superbly well, and 1 think the whole production is a very fine illustrated book. The pictures are of a very high quality, and the author has done his homework thoroughly and professionally’ Maurice Craig on his Book Programme (6 January 1982) Radio Telefís Éireann

On The History, Architecture, and Planning of the Estates of the Fishmongers’ Company in Ulster

‘The bibliography testifies to the author’s depth and breadth of reading... this book is valuable in introducing the subject of the London City Companies’ involvement in Ireland or, for those who have read the author’s work on the Drapers’ Company in Ulster, extending knowledge of it. No praise can be too great for the U.A.H.S. which has continued to produce admirable... monographs ...’ Lesley Lewis in The Antiquaries Journal lxii Pt.II (1982)

‘…an able little book admirably condensing Ulster history yet retaining sufficient detail to provide a readable and absorbing text...’ Alistair Rowan in Newsletter 28 of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (Summer 1983)

‘Dr. James Stevens Curl’s monograph... should be essential reading for anyone wishing to comprehend Northern Ireland today... He discusses the “survey and analysis” stages, when the Government saw the plantation as a means of transforming “the most rude and unreformed part of Ireland and the seat and nest of the last great rebellion” into a law- abiding land and a source of revenue, while also relieving what was considered over-population in London. He reveals lucidly the provision of the Plan itself, both physical and financial... Dr. Curl shows amply the role of the Company’s servants and surveyors, and includes many original drawings with the wealth of photographs which he has taken for the study. This... publication disseminates knowledge, interprets our heritage, and shows where and how illiterate alterations are damaging that heritage ... The book is extremely good value... It is a positive antidote to the all too frequent negative or carping criticism which emanates from some civic societies’ Denis McCoy in the Journal of the Royal Town Planning Institute (September/October 1983)

On The Egyptian Revival. An Introductory Study of a Recurring Theme in the History of Taste

‘ ... despite the author’s modest claim in the subtitle that this is “an introductory study of a recurring theme in the history of taste”. it is unlikely that a more comprehensive account of the Egyptian influence on Western art and architecture will be published this century.The Egyptian Revival is a monumental work. Dr. Curl started researching for the book over twenty years ago, and his painstaking scholarship is proven by the immense scope of the volume. Over 200 outstanding illustrations, the majority never before published, enhance the presentation of this remarkable book which will delight the interested layman and absorb the academic’ The Hampshire Chronicle (30 July 1982 )

‘The story of Dr. Curl’s research – if so prosaic a word can be used for what is more truly an adventure as thrilling as the myth of Crete – is told in his latest book, The Egyptian Revival.What makes this book a tour-de-force is the breadth of knowledge and interest it reveals. Dr. Curl is an historian of architecture by profession, but he is in truth a polymath, whose interests cover European literature, music, and painting. For the scholar and student, the book is equipped with meticulous notes and a 20-page bibliography, as well as an efficient index. But the erudition is lightly worn. The general reader will find nothing daunting in the clearly-written text, enlivened by a wealth of quotations, and by the author’s huge zest for his subject’ Helen Turner in The Oxford Times (6 August 1982)

‘Dr. Curl is eminently qualified to survey this broad sweep... his long interest over some twenty years in the Egyptian Revival has brought a vast amount of material together. As is to be expected, there is an emphasis on architecture and especially funeral monuments ... (Curl’s previous book A Celebration of Death... exhibits his specific interest and rapport in this field). Dr. Curl, in his exceedingly detailed survey that belies its sub-title ... gives us plenty to think about in a very dense text replete with footnotes and extensive bibliography. The illustrations are well presented and reproduced and intriguingly stimulating... it cannot be said that Dr. Curl’s treatment is anything but thorough. Others have taken aspects of the Egyptian Revival in its various phases; here it can all be seen in a rather splendid assemblage’ Peter A. Clayton in The Journal of the Royal Society of Arts cxxxi/5324 (July 1983)

‘As an architectural historian Dr. Curl is particularly strong on tracking down Egyptian motifs in Renaissance art and architecture. (There are) ... many good and fascinating things in his book...’ Christopher Booker in The Sunday Telegraph (29 August 1982)

‘As James Stevens Curl has brilliantly demonstrated in The Egyptian Revival ... the idea of Egyptian culture has pervaded European civilisation in varying degrees since Roman times ... Dr. Curl’s marvellously informative book (is) handsomely illustrated...’ Derek Linstrum in The Yorkshire Post (6 September 1982)

‘The definitive masterwork on the Egyptian Revival... This is a notable publication on several counts. Prodigious research over many years underpins no dry-as-dust monograph but a vivid and smooth narration, as absorbing and readable as a first-rate biography. This lively text is augmented by remarkable illustrative material of an unusual historical, geographical and aesthetic range... This is, in every department, a definitive work: generations of students will be indebted to Dr. Curl’s rare dedication, passion, and precision’ House and Garden (October 1982) 154

‘The Egyptian Revival ... is a phrase... not yet as familiar as ‘Gothic Revival’ or ‘Greek Revival’ - but it may now be regarded as well and truly coined. James Stevens Curl has made an impressive compilation of European Borrowings from Egypt, ranging from obelisks in imperial Rome to the Carlton Cinema in Islington. He is at his best on funerary monuments ... and he devotes a valuable section to the tradition of ‘Egyptian’ sets for The Magic Flute. (The book) covers ... much ground... Dr. Stevens Curl has opened up an extensive and fertile territory in which explorers of themes and motifs will be occupied for many years’ Patrick Conner in Country Life (23 September 1982)

‘Curl’s wide geographic and chronological spectrum was necessary... (he) ... has come up with a surprisingly large trawl of Egyptiana. The book is a grand conspectus of two millennia’s worth of the continuing Egyptian decorative tradition... (it) is practically all hard evidence’ Sutherland Lyall in Building Design (24 September 1982)

‘The Egyptian Revival ... is full of attractive matter and is finely illustrated... Curl’s pertinency has been immense. He points out a repetitive palmette motif at Malmesbury Abbey of 1170 as a first harbinger of the Odeon style on our soil. He succeeds in showing that ancient Egypt has been subject to pretty well uninterrupted aesthetic borrowing ever since Julius Caesar and Mark Antony dallied with a Greek queen at Alexandria’ Anthony Quinton in The Times (7 October 1982)

‘This beautifully illustrated book will delight the general reader with an interest in art history and architecture’ Chowkidar iii/1 (October 1982)

‘The book is so densely packed with assertions and assumptions that one is numbed into unquestioning submission. Once in a while the author raises a point that gives pause for doubt, but invariably is found to be right... he (has) rehearsed the material, distilled and reduced it... Like all good works of reference, it gives sources to which one may immediately return to expand the material ... (It is) a work of reference ... which in the case of some artists provides the only material available in English. The Egyptian Revival is likely to stand alone for a generation or so, and deserved to be given good looks and comfortable substance’ Brian Sewell in Interiors (September 1982)

‘The Egyptian Revival... has an impressively broad scope covering not only architecture but all the decorative arts from the ancient world to the present day. It is thus important as the first comprehensive study of its kind, and it is hard to imagine it being superseded in the near future... Curl has a field day as he leads us from Kensal Green to Brookwood Cemetery where the Egyptianising tomb-houses in the Parsee section are the subject of one of the more unexpected plates in the book... Curl’s relation of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson to the Egyptian Revival is illuminating... The story... in the twentieth century... (is)... a strikingly satisfying terminus to a fascinating and important book’ David Watkin in The Architectural Review (November 1982)

‘As Curl is at pains to emphasise, the fruits of Bonaparte’s expedition did not fall upon a world unprepared... The Egyptian Revival ... traces the influence of Egypt on European art and culture both forward to modernistic cinemas and back to the Roman Empire... Curl ... painstakingly, indeed remorselessly, lists, and ... provides many extraordinary and recondite uses of what he calls “Egyptianising” forms. This (is a) comprehensive pioneering study’ Gavin Stamp in The Spectator (11 December 1982)

‘Dr. Curl’s new study is the most comprehensive account of the Egyptian Revival to appear in print so far ... Unlike most earlier accounts, he illustrates how Egyptomania gained ground at various points in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, he explores the Egyptianising elements in Art Déco and in more recent design work. It is one of the special features of this book that it covers theatre design and the decorative arts as well as art and architecture. Dr. Curl is altogether too modest when claiming that his book is merely ‘an introductory study of a recurring theme in the history of taste’. This is a thoroughly researched and wide-ranging work that draws on an impressive range of sources ... Architectural and design historians will find a rich quarry in this well-illustrated work - especially in view of its substantial and impressive bibliography’ Michael Harrison in Planning History Bulletin iv/3 (1982) 23

‘ ... the learned author... gives us ... an original work hallmarked with that perspicuity and lucidity that distinguished his previous works ... With the help of a comprehensive iconography, Dr. Curl argues convincingly..., and shows eloquently that Egyptian art has been seminal for centuries and that its influence has been almost always beneficial. His book bids fair to become the standard work on this absorbing subject’ René Elvin in the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Newsletter 29 (Winter 1983)

‘The Egyptian Revival ... (is)... a wide-ranging survey. There is much intriguing material here... Curl shifts the emphasis of his study backwards, to the movement’s prolegomena... His final chapter, ‘The Egyptian Revival in the Twentieth Century’, hints at an evolution... from eclecticism of taste to eclecticism of style. In the astounding Egyptian bedroom designed for Lord Battersea... (c.1903), archaeology and Invention are brilliantly balanced. And in the Hoover Factory of 1931-32 eclecticism finally triumphs over undiluted historicism’ J. Mordaunt Crook in The Times Literary Supplement (18 February 1983)

‘As demonstrated by the nineteen-page bibliography and the extensive foot-notes, Mr. Curl has covered a great deal of ground in his research... The main orientation of his book is towards architecture and the decorative arts ... sculpture is widely and interestingly covered’ Clive Wainwright in The Antique Dealer and Collectors’ Guide (July 1983)

‘Dr. Curl’s main thesis [is] the influence of Egypt on architectural ... styles, upon which topic he is undoubtedly expert ... A book concerned with a motif and its occurrence over several centuries needs to be well illustrated, and here the publishers have done Dr. Curl proud. The quality of the 203 illustrations overall is very good and their interest of content exceptionally high... The text is packed with information ... Certainly there can be little that has been overlooked in this in-depth survey (it belies its sub-title of ‘An introductory study’). It is most adequately backed by extensive footnotes and a detailed bibliography. The compact design has ensured that what could have easily become a large and unwieldy tome sits easily in the reader’s hand without any loss of clarity or presentation. This is a valuable addition to ‘para-Egyptological’ literature; the Egyptian theme spread far beyond the Nile valley and its influence can be seen in many aspects of life about us today - Dr. Curl rightly draws our attention to its remaining traces as well as its history. The Egyptian theme is a recurring one that predates all the others we know so well. It is good to see such a comprehensive survey of it [is] now available’ Peter A. Clayton in Popular Archaeology (November 1983)

‘James Stevens Curl’s latest book... lives up to its subtitle. Drawing from a multitude of sources, he presents a chronological picture of the recurring interest in things Egyptian, especially as manifest in architecture and the decorative arts ... it is ... a useful, well-documented, and well illustrated account’ Damie Stillman in Progressive Architecture (June 1984) 116-7