The Cathedrals of Northern France   By: Milburg F. Mansfield (1871-)

The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top profusely illustrated. $2.50

The Cathedrals of Northern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN

The Cathedrals of Southern France BY FRANCIS MILTOUN

The Cathedrals of England BY MARY J. TABER

The following, each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth, gilt top, profusely illustrated. Net, $2.00

The Cathedrals and Churches of the Rhine BY FRANCIS MILTOUN

The Cathedrals of Northern Spain BY CHARLES RUDY

L. C. PAGE & COMPANY New England Building, Boston, Mass.

[Illustration: NOTRE DAME ... de NOYON ]

THE CATHEDRALS OF NORTHERN FRANCE

By FRANCIS MILTOUN

WITH EIGHTY ILLUSTRATIONS, PLANS, AND DIAGRAMS,

By BLANCHE McMANUS

[Illustration]

BOSTON

L. C. Page and Company

MDCCCCIIII

Copyright, 1903 BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY

(INCORPORATED)

All rights reserved

Published October, 1903

Colonial Press

Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.

Boston, Mass., U. S. A.

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR AND ARTIST TO THE GENIUS OF RACE WHICH MADE POSSIBLE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE ARCHITECTURAL "GLORIES OF FRANCE"

APOLOGIA

"There are two ways of writing a book of travel: to recount the journey itself or the results of it." This is also the case with regard to any work which attempts to purvey topographical or historical information of a nature which is only to be gathered upon the spot; and, when an additional side light is shown by reason of the inclusion, as in the present instance, of the artistic and religious element, it becomes more and more a question of judicious selection and arrangement of fact, rather than a mere hazarding of opinions, which, in many cases, can be naught but conjecture, and may, in spite of any good claim to authoritativeness, be misunderstood or perverted to an inutile end, or, what is worse, swallowed in that oblivion where lies so much excellent thought, which, lacking either balance or timeliness, has become stranded, wrecked, and practically lost to view because of its unappropriate and unattractive presentation.

To day, the purely technical writer may have little hope of immortality unless he is broad minded enough to take a cultivated interest in many matters outside the ken of his own particular sphere. The best equipped person living could not produce a new "Dictionary of Architecture," and expect it to fill any niche that may be waiting for such a work, unless he brought to bear, in addition to his own special knowledge, something of the statistician, something of the professed compiler, and, if possible, a little of the not unimportant knowledge possessed by the maker and seller of books, meaning the publisher. Given these qualifications, it is likely that he will then produce an ensemble as far in advance of what otherwise might have been as is the modern printing machine, as a factor in the dissemination of literature, as compared with the ancient scribes working to the same end.

The sentimentalist and rhapsodist in words and ideas is a dwindling factor at the present day, and a new presentation of fact is occasionally to be met with in the printed page. The best "book of travel" within the knowledge of the writer, and perhaps one of the slightest in bulk ever written in the English language, is Stevenson's "Inland Voyage" here were imagination, appreciation, and a new way of seeing things, and, above all, enthusiasm; and this is the formula upon which doubtless many a future writer will build his reputation, though he may never reach the significant heights expressed by Stevenson in the picturesque wording of his wish to be made Bishop of Noyon.