Pleasure of ruins

“Angkor, Crac des Chevaliers, Tintern Abbey, Persepolis, Cöpan, Troy … magical ruins, which have cast their spell over some of the greatest writers in the English language. In our time, Rose Macauly, the sensitive, witty, and astringent English novelist, was possessed by them and impelled to record their mysterious attraction in the avocative, romantic, yet precisely informed prose of Pleasure of Ruins.

Her book enchanted one man above all, Roloff Beny, the artist and supreme poet of the camera, who already in his books The Thrones of Earth and Heaven and A Time of Gods had captured the ruined glory of the classical world. Brought together by the brilliant essay that Rose Macaulay contributed to the first of these, author and artist contemplated a new venture. Mr Beny undertook a journey around the world to Mesopotamia, Iran, India, Cambodia, the China coast, Central an South America, Europe and the Mediterranean, to explore and photograph the sites that had especially kindled her imagination. With the editorial skill of her cousin, Constance Babington Smith, the project was triumphantly accomplished.

The text is supplemented and enhanced by 156 plates (16 in colour) as well as 26 maps and site plans. First published in 1964, this work has long been out of print. It is presented here in a new format, specially redesigned by Roloff Beny.”

Foto’s van en teksten over ruïnes in Syrië, Jordanië, Turkije, Libanon, India, Guatemala, China, Italië, Peru, Mexico, Honduras, Griekenland, Cyprus, Libië, Engeland, Schotland, Wales, Ierland, Cambodja, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Israël, Iran, Irak, voorm. Joegoslavië.