Contrasts ; or, A parallel between the noble edifices of the middle ages, and corresponding buildings of the present day, shewing the present decay of taste ; accompanied by appropriate text
A. W. N. Pugin's polemic on architecture, published in London by C. Dolman in 1841, argued to British readers that Gothic building was morally and artistically superior to contemporary classical and utilitarian work. The plates are paired line etchings stacked two to a page — a medieval church front, gate or town hall set against its modern counterpart — with engraved captions, giving designers pinnacles, tracery windows, street elevations and deadpan before-and-after page layouts.
