'I do not think of myself as a photographer, merely somebody who has taken a great many photographs, usually with a purpose in mind' : to catalogue something of historical and architectural value, to capture an oddity, or to 'imbue with self-respect a place which those who live in, or beside, it, may till then have thought of merely as a dump'. For fifty years, architectural historian Maurice Craig carried a camera nearly everywhere he went. Meticulously catalogued, the resulting collection of over two thousand photographs was donated to the Irish Architectural Archive (IAA) in 2001. In his final year, Craig and his editor selected seventy-one of his favourites adding comments in his wry, incisive style. Many photographs here originally featured in the IAA 2006 exhibition 'Maurice Craig: Fifty Years of Photographing Ireland'; others appeared in Ireland Observed as small prints. Here, in a generous format, the photographs are grouped into four categories: buildings that no longer exist; tableaux of a bygone age; curiosities, such as arresting stone carvings and plaster work, or humourous juxtapositions; and buildings of enduring architectural interest.
With an introduction by the photographer and an afterword by Edward MacParland, this book is part memento mori, part historical document: a tribute not only to Ireland's architecture, but to one of its greatest champions. Maurice Craig (1919-2011) was born in Belfast and educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and Trinity College, Dublin. He was Inspector of Ancient Monuments in the Ministry of Works, London from 1952 - 70 and served as advisor to An Foras Forbartha from 1971-75. He wrote on Irish bookbindings, cats, biography, poetry, and topography, but he is best known for his books on architectural subjects: Dublin 1660 - 1860 appeared in 1952 and has never been out of print; it was followed by Classic Irish Houses of the Middle Size and The Architecture of Ireland from the Earliest Times to 1880.