Читать книгу The Alhambra. The Arabian conquest of the Peninsula with a particular account of the Mohammedan architecture and decoration онлайн

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For the historical portions of the description contained in the letterpress I have levied tribute on a variety of authors. The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, by the learned Spanish Orientalist, Don Pascual de Gayángos; Raphaël Contreras’ Etude Descriptive des Monuments Arabes; Richard Ford’s reverent appreciations; Dr. R. Dozy’s history; Mr. Stanley Lane-Poole’s The Moors in Spain; Washington Irving’s fascinating writings; and The Alhambra Album, presented by Prince Dolgorouki in 1829, containing the autographs, poems and thoughts of succeeding generations of visitors to Granada, these and many others have been drawn upon in the following pages.

But the multiplicity of my illustrations convinced me that if I adhered to my idea of furnishing an amount of letterpress sufficient to “carry” the blocks, I should only end in producing a book that would tax the physical endurance of my readers by reason of its bulk, and exhaust their patience with a tedious superabundance of minute descriptive pabulum. I resolved, therefore, to give pride of place to the pictorial side of the volume; to abandon the traditions regulating the proportions of prose to pictures; and make my appeal to the public by the beauty and variety of the illustrations I have collected, and the immensity of elaborate letterpress which I have not written.