Tag Archives: William Ware

Shades and Shadows

William R. Ware. Shades and shadows, with applications to architectural details, and exercises in drawing them with the brush and penScranton: International textbook company, [c1912-c1913].

Whenever I select a book to share from Special Collections, I tend to keep my focus rather narrow to reflect my research interests in either Medieval Architecture or more broadly British Architecture. Today, however, I am breaking with tradition because I made a delightful find- a piece of architectural history- in Special Collections. The library’s copy of Shades and Shadows was the personal copy of Goldwin Goldsmith (1871-1962), who was a member of the Department of Architecture at UT between 1928-1955. He presented his copy to the library.

According to the note pasted inside the cover and dated March 18, 1914, William Ware (1832-1915) sent Goldsmith copies of Perspective, American Vignola, and Shades and Shadows. Ware writes:

This I have done, not only to testify my personal confidence and regard, but to make sure that your new undertakings have the benefit of whatever there is in these books of interest and novelty. But the only thing that will be new to you is what was new to me. I was surprised to find in writing out the Shades and Shadows that the phenomena attending Concave Surfaces and [Re-centering?] Angles had escaped the vigilance of pervious writers.

Ware concludes his brief letter with a personal note:

Some time when you are at leisure I shall be glad to know how you find things where you are.

I keep pretty well, though I have no longer any fist for penmanship, and find my legs quite untrustworthy. So I hardly walk at all, though I drive about, an hour or so, two or three times a week. 

Yours most sincerely, 

William R. Ware.