RCAHMS Books 2013-14
Drawing on the expertise and enthusiasm of our dedicated staff, and the outstanding resource of our unique archive collection, RCAHMS books deliver immaculately researched and wonderfully illustrated titles to anyone with an interest in Scotland’s places, history and heritage.
Forthcoming highlights for 2013-2014 include:
A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith’s Edinburgh, Autumn 2014 – In this sumptuous new book, Alexander McCall Smith curates his own, distinctive story of Edinburgh – combining his affectionate, incisive wit with a wealth of stunning imagery drawn from Scotland’s national collection of architecture and archaeology. Through a series of photographs, maps, drawings and paintings – many never before published – he takes the reader on a unique tour. Just like the city’s architecture, the book can move in an instant from sweeping views to secret, hidden vignettes. This is a story of famous landmarks and lost buildings; the people who made them; the people who lived in them. A Work of Beauty is an intimate portrait of a city by one of Scotland’s greatest storytellers.
Dumfries House: An Architectural Story, November 2013 - On 18 July 1754, William Crichton Dalrymple, the 5th Earl of Dumfries, laid the foundation stone of Dumfries House. He had commissioned the design from the celebrated Scottish architect brothers Robert, John and James Adam – the very first country house that they built. In this new, landmark book, author Simon Green draws on previously unpublished documents from the archives of Mount Stuart – and a wealth of lavish plans, photographs and drawings – to explore the people and the ideas that came together to create this architectural masterpiece. Dumfries House is the story of a treasured family residence and a wonder of Scottish design – at once the ‘homliest’ of homes and ‘a great undertaking, more bold than wise’.
Aerofilms: A History of Britain From Above, February 2014 - In 1919 a group of entrepreneurs, adventurers and aviation enthusiasts set up a company called ‘Aerofilms’. It was a pioneering venture, which hoped to marry the still fledgling technology of flight to the discipline of photography. What followed is a distinctively British tale of derring-do. From developing photographic plates in a hotel bathroom near the London Aerodrome at Hendon, to producing many thousands of aerial images every single year, an untested and eccentric idea became a major commercial operation. Aerofilms: A History of Britain From Above brings together the finest imagery from this unique collection, and tells the fascinating story of the men and women behind the company. Scheduled for release in February 2014 – to coincide with a major ‘Britain from Above’ exhibition programme running across the UK – this lavishly-illustrated new book is a joint publication between English Heritage, RCAHMS and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW).
For more information on all of RCAHMS Books, including details on how to order, see our new books catalogue PDF or the publications section of our website.
