John Henry Parker

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John Henry Parker CB (1 March 1806 – 31 January 1884), English writer on architecture and publisher, was the son of John Parker, a London merchant.

He was educated at Manor House School, Chiswick, and was apprenticed in 1821 to his uncle, the Oxford bookseller Joseph Parker (1774?-1850). He succeeded to his uncle's business in 1832, and ran the firm with great success, the most important of his publications being perhaps the series of the Oxford pocket classics.

In 1836 he brought out his Glossary of terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian, and Gothic architecture, which, published during the Gothic revival in England, had considerable influence in extending the movement, and supplied valuable inspiration to young architects. In 1848 he edited the fifth edition of Rickman's Gothic architecture, and in 1849 he published a handbook based on his earlier volume entitled Introduction to the study of Gothic architecture. The completion of Hudson Turner's Domestic architecture of the Middle Ages next engaged his attention, three volumes being published (1853-1860). In 1858 he published Medieval architecture of Chester.

Parker was one of the chief advocates of the restoration of ecclesiastical buildings, and published in 1866 Architectural antiquities of the city of Wells. Latterly he devoted much attention to explorations of the history of Rome by means of excavations, and succeeded in satisfying himself of the historical truth of much usually regarded as legendary. Two volumes of his Archaeology of Rome were published at Oxford in 1874 and 1876.

In recognition of his labours he was decorated by the king of Italy, and received a medal from Pope Pius IX. In 1869 he endowed the keepership of the Ashmolean Museum with a sum yielding £250 a year, and under the new arrangement he was appointed the first keeper. In 1871 he was nominated CB.

[edit] References

• Paul W. Nash, Nicholas Savage, et al. Early printed books 1478-1840: catalogue of the British Architectural Library Early Imprints Collection. 5 vols. London and Munich: Bowker-Saur/K.G. Saur, 1994-2003. Vol. 3, 2434-2436.

• Oxford dictionary of national biography. Oxford: University Press, 2004.

[edit] External links

• Works by or about John Henry Parker in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.