As the first volume of the Advanced Series embraced a higher range of topics on Brickwork and Masonry than that of the volume of the Elementary Series, of which it formed the natural and necessary sequel, according to the proposed plan of the series; so does this, now presented to the Student, take up and discuss a wider and higher class of subjects in connection with Carpentery, Joinery, and Iron Work. Like the preceding volumes of the series, so this also, in order to be in conformity with the Syllabus of the Department of Science and Art, for the elucidation of part of the scheme of which it is designed, treats of much that is in its nature purely Elementary. But what is given in this way is so given, simply to lead the student up by a regular gradation of examples, from simple studies up to those which embrace more advanced principles, and a higher and wider range of examples of practice. Like the volumes which precede it, and which, as we have said, are its natural and necessary precursors, the feature which distinguishes it from nearly every other work of the same class, is the number of its illustrations, alike in the department of woodcuts interspersed amongst the letterpress, and in the 40 large Plates. Of these it is right to state that they are not all, as so many illustrations are, merely simple outline diagrams; but in a large majority of instances are what may be called working drawings, drawn to scale expressly for the work, or selected with care from examples of the best and the most recent structures of the times. In fact, it is only from their relative smallness - necessitated by that of the surface alone at command - that they differ from the larger drawings of such works having wider scope in this respect. As regards these illustrations, and this refers, of course, more especially to the woodcuts, it will be observed that their number begin at high figures. This requires and admits of easy explanation.

As stated in the Preface to the first volume of the Advanced Series, it was intended to have comprised the subjects of Brick, Stone, Timber, and Iron Work, within the limits of one volume; but from the great number of the illustrations, and the length to which their descriptions consequently extended, this was found to be impossible, without making it much larger in size than the scheme of the series, of which it would have formed a part, admitted of. A division of the subjects of Brick and Mason Work and cognate subjects, and of Timber and Iron Work, was therefore determined upon. But in giving the latter volume, it was deemed better not to break the continuity of the numbering of the letterpress illustrations, so that if at any time a student of the first determined to purchase the second volume, and bind the two together, he would find those numbers consecutive. Profuse, however, as these illustrations are, and to such an extent as is rarely met with in practical literature, and full as are the descriptions, it is perhaps scarcely necessary to state here what was stated in the Preface to the first volume: that neither the scheme nor the extent of the work admits of the Author presenting the student with an exhaustive treatise of the whole subject. That is obviously the work of larger and more ambitious volumes, amongst which he may be permitted to name his own in 4to, entitled The New Practical Direction to Carpentry and Joinery, and his still larger work in folio, Modern Architecture and Building. Those two works contain notices of useful patented improvements, and of. important modern works on the large scale executed both here and on the Continent, in the arts on which they treat; but which, however interesting and valuable, are obviously out of place in a purely educational work like the present. At the same time, this reference to them will serve to the student of this volume a practical purpose, as he has reason to know it did in the case of the elementary volume, and will also, he trusts, be his best excuse for giving the special notice of them now named.

R. S. B.

November, 1877.