Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1984 - 33

mulatively, to remind one vaguely of two
old Dover stand-bys-Meyer's Handbook
of Ornallleni and Speltz's The Sly/es of Ornalllem. The problem with many of the historical images is that they are reproduced at
too small a scale; detail is lost and the den ity of the images varies considerably.
This niggling complaint aside, lIIus-

lraled Diclionary of Hislorica/ Archileclllre
is a work which is to be acquired, admired
and utilized by the students of art and architecture for whom it was clearly intended. C
Brian Arnott
Ontario

Costume History and Style

by
Douglas A. Ru sell. Englewood Cliffs,
J: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983. ISBN
0-13-181214-9, xiv+544 pp., ill., 533.95
cloth.
In Coslllllle Hisrory and Sly/e, Doug
Russell has adapted and expanded his' 'Outline History of Western Costume" section
from Srage Coslllllle Design, mixed in a few
elements from Thealrica/ Sly/e, and turned
out a text [racing costume and fashion from
prehistoric times up to the mid 1970s. This
is perhaps the best costume history textbook
(as opposed to pictorial histories such as
Boucher or Contini) to be published since
Lucy Barton's Hisroric COSfUllle for fhe

Srage.
The book's twenty-six chapters allow

for concentrated attention to each period of
costume history. The Middle Ages, for instance, comprise five chapters-"Early
Christian and Byzantine," "Barbaric, Carolingian, and Romanesque," "Early and
High Got hic," "Middle Got hic ," and
"Late Gothic and Early Italian Renaissance." Such a detailed breakdown of periods allows for specific and thorough coverage of each. The organization of the chapter format provides a clear and rational
presentation of the material. Each chapter
begins with a chronological date-line of the
major historical events of the period, followed by a "Background" section that
brieny discusses the social, political, and
cultural aspects of that time. "The Basic
Costume Silhouette" section which follows
provides a concise survey of the costume of
the period and contains sufficient information for a survey course in costume history.
The body of the chapter contains detailed
discussions of costume during the period in
question and, in some instances, further
subdivides the period ("Early Christian and
Byzantine," for example, is divided into
three separate periods.) Sections on "Fabrics," "Arts and Artifacts," "Visual
Sources," and "Summary" round out each
chapter. The book is illustrated with very
well reproduced black-and-white photographs from primary sources together with
line drawings of costume details, jewelry,
shoes, and headdresses, as well as item of
architecture, furniture, and decor.

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Russell has made a conscious, and generally very successful, attempt to relate
changes in costume style to social, political,
and cultural changes and to point up similarities in style across the arts and crafts.
He writes clearly and concisely, and has
avoided filling his text with obscure names
and often-confusing terminology.
This is an excellent book, and any criticism offered is purely nit-picking-a wish,
for example, that the line drawings were a
little less sketchy and a bit more detailed,
and that some of the photographs were
somewhat larger. The book is valuable both
as a classroom text and as a reference
source.
C
W. Joseph Stell
University of Georgia

The Five Books of Architecture:
An Unabridged Reprint of the English Edition of 1611 by Sebastiano Serlio. London: Printed for R. Peake, 1611;
reprint edition, ew York: Dover Publications, 1982. ISB 0-486-24349-4, 416 pp.,
ill., 514.95 paper.
Sebastiano Serlio's (1475 -1544) work is
important in the history of theatre and architecture. His writings were the first about
architecture to be written in a vernacular
language and to include illustrations. He
shows us the contemporary methods of
adapting Roman style theatre and architectural detail for indoor use. He stresses the
practical in his Books, published between
1537 and 1547 and collected together in
1584.
This particular reprint is important and
will serve many uses in a design or history
program. But the printing suffers from
some defects that will hinder its use. This
edition is a reprint from a translation first
published in 1611. It suffers from a slightly
archaic print style and language. The book
is reduced 5OJo from its original size which
makes the smaller type print just a little
harder to read. The illustrations, however,
are fantastic. If a designer or a historian
needs a good illustration of an older form of
architecture or a detail of such, the odds are
very good that one can find it located here.
If one is doing original research in this area,
the book is a must. A much better but more
limited work is The Renaissance Sfage (ed.
by Barnard W. Hewitt, Coral Gables, Fla.;
niversity of Miami Press, 1958.) At least
Hewitt's book is a modern translation of [he
theatrical portion of Serlio's writings covered in this reprint. It is also much easier to
read.
This reprint edition should probably be
in a large research collection or design library. Personal copies should only be considered if one plans working heavily in this
field.
C
Edward J. Delong
St. lary's College of I\laryland

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Fall 1984