The Brochure Series Of Architectural Illustration, Vol 1, No. 2. February 1895. | Page 6

as the
thicker leads are too stiff to bend. The large final drawings can then be
made away from the building. It is important to draw out the building

completely at a small scale, however, as it is very annoying when
making the final drawing far away from the building to find that some
important dimension has been forgotten.
"The ordinary tape stretches so much in long dimensions that it is
inaccurate. It is best to get a tape with a metallic strip in it, and it
should be at least fifty feet long in order to take dimensions over all,
which is much more accurate than measuring with a short tape from
point to point.
"The metric system is very convenient, but it is better for American
students to use the English measure that they will have to use in
practice, and take the tape over with them, for it is difficult to find them
on the Continent. A sliding measuring-rod is nearly indispensable, and
it will be most convenient to carry if it folds up to the length of the
imperial drawing pad. Two large triangles are very useful in getting the
projection of mouldings, as they can be held together to form a right
angle."
[Illustration: XV. Door of the Madonna di Loreto, Triani, Italy.]

#Books.#
Verona and Other Lectures. By John Ruskin, D.C.L., LL.D. New York:
Macmillan & Co., 1894. 8vo, pp. 204, plates xii. $2.50.
The art of Northern Italy has furnished the text for a very considerable
part of the writings of Mr. Ruskin, and there is no one writer among
those who have ventured to investigate and write upon this extremely
engrossing subject whose work has so great an interest for the architect,
or in fact is of so much value to him. It is not necessary to agree with
all of Mr. Ruskin's elaborate theories or to unqualifiedly admire his
drawings in order to find much of real value in his books. No student of
architecture can afford not to read "The Stones of Venice," and there
are few books which should take precedence over it in the formation of
an architect's library.
Apropos of the illustrations in the last number of THE BROCHURE
SERIES, in the descriptive notices of which we had occasion to refer to
Mr. Ruskin, his latest published work will be found interesting. The
title, "_Verona and other Lectures_," does not convey a very complete

idea of the contents of the book. None of the five lectures included is
strictly architectural in subject matter, and but one, the first, "Verona
and its Rivers," has any direct bearing upon architecture, and this only
from the historical side. The illustrations, with a single exception from
drawings by the author, although lacking in most of the qualities of
good draughtsmanship, are well worth examination and study. Plates II.
and V., "A Fountain at Verona," and "The Castelbarco Tomb, Sta.
Anastasia, Verona," the first made in 1841 and the second in 1835, are
from the point of view of the architect the most interesting. They are
both pencil sketches, the first accented with a few touches of wash in
the shadows and darker portions of the drawing. Plate IX. represents
the angle of the Ducal Palace, Venice, the same given as the
frontispiece in the last issue of THE BROCHURE SERIES. It would
hardly be possible to come nearer the same point of view if the
coincidence were intentional. In the comparison which this forces upon
Mr. Ruskin very naturally suffers, as might be expected, from the fact
that his training in drawing was not the most thorough. His proportions
are somewhat faulty and the detail is only vaguely suggested, in fact
this is more or less true of all his drawings. Nevertheless the book will
be welcome to many architects for the valuable suggestions it contains
both in text and illustrations; and the author's wonderful and fascinating
literary style is here as unmistakably in evidence as in any of his older
works. This alone is sufficient inducement to tempt the reader to take it
up.

#Club Notes.#
At the suggestion of several subscribers, the addresses are given below
of the secretaries of the principal architectural clubs as far as they are
known to us, but there are several omissions and possibly some
mistakes. In order that these associations may be of as great mutual
assistance to each other as possible, through correspondence, the
exchange of notices of competitions, etc., it is requested that any not
included in the following list will communicate the desired information
to the editor of THE BROCHURE SERIES. Corrections or additions
will be made in later issues, and the various secretaries will confer a
favor by keeping the editor informed of any changes of address or

organization.
LIST