Castles of the Western World: With 240 Illustrations

By Armin Tuulse

Travel beyond the threatening tides of the Atlantic to the striking, fortified island of Mont St. Michel. Visit the extraordinary Swiss castle that belonged to the Count of Savoy and inspired "The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486423328
• ISBN13: 9780486423326
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Dover Publications, Incorporated
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 8.4" x 11.1"

Customer Reviews

A classic book about 'real' castles.

This is a very well written, detailed book about 'real' castles, rather than the 19th century 'fantasy' castles such as Neuschwanstein and the Brighton Pavilion. It traces the development of the castle-fortresses of Europe from ancient times to the rise of gunpowder. So any castle built from the Renaissance onwards is not included in this book. And rightly so, since the subject of the book is the medieval fortresses of (mostly) Northern Europe. A real highlight of the book are the reconstructions and ground plans of lesser known German castles of the early middle ages. This information is just not available in the English-speaking world. As other reviewers have mentioned, the photos are not in colour, but this is meant to be a source book for those interested in researching castle forms, not a pretty coffee table book. The old black and white photos are stunning, typical of the black and white photography of the 1940's and 1950's. I found this an advantage, since the castles are photographed without the modern intrusions that have occurred since the 1960's and 1970's. With plenty of colour photos of castles available in other books, or even online for free, I don't see how this would cause a problem for anyone wanting colour photos. One must bear in mind this book is a reprint of one published in 1958. As such, it is typical of books from that era. Chapters include the castles of Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, Germany, Austria, Britain and the Low Countries. As I mentioned earlier, the inclusion of lesser known castles, such as those of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, are particularly appreciated by the reader. If you're interested in the development of the castle as a fortress-palace with detailed information, ground plans, beautiful black and white photos and excellent reconstruction drawings in pen and ink, this book is for you. I think people looking for information on castles with fantasy role playing in mind, this is better than any gaming book on castles around. For me this is better than any large, pretty coffee table book on the Loire Chateaux or Neuschwanstein.

Castles are my thing!

I love castles and these are just absolutely beautiful. They give you the feeling that you want to live in them - bar the drafty rooms, etc. Also, they make you wonder who might have lived in them and what kind of history the castles have. If I ever have the good fortune to travel to any of these places, I would most definitely look up these castles.