Illustrated dictionary of architectural preservation /

Burden's volume, part dictionary, part sourcebook for architectural preservation resources, and part catalog of successful examples of architectural preservation, is a companion to his Illustrated Dictionary of Architecture (CH, Oct'98). Trained as an architect with a lifelong interest in photography, architecture, and historic preservation, Burden uses his trained eye to fill this volume with his detailed photographs that support and accompany the definitions. These range in scope from simple and obvious (e.g., "arch," "hotel"), to more complex and specialized ("intonaco," a fine coat of plaster; "quirk," an indentation in a molding). Two features--the inclusion of names of historically important architects and of architectural firms that specialize in preservation--detract rather than add to the volume's readability. The content of any book called "Illustrated Dictionary" is diluted by including nonlexical matter among the headwords; readers would be better served had the architects and firms been assigned to appendixes. That point aside, Burden's volume, aimed at general readers rather than architects, is highly readable and provides clear, concise, well-illustrated definitions, "Aalto" to "Zoo." ^BSumming Up: Recommended. General readers; undergraduates. A. J. Dutka University of North Carolina at Wilmington