The Library of Congress: An Architectural Alphabet

The stunning, mostly color photographs in this splendid book facilitate a highly rewarding vicarious visit to one of the world's truly great Beaux Arts settings, the interior of the 1896 Library Of Congress, located just behind the U.S. Capital. What's more, punctuating the glimpses of the library's grand entrance hall, dazzling white and colored marbles, majestic staircases and wide, open balconies, arches, columns, carved relief work, painted murals and the huge, lavishly ornamented dome towering above the octagonal main reading room, is an alphabetically arranged glossary of architectural terms. Each photo provides a visual of description of the term cited. The colorful, often fantastic typography used for the alphabet letters themselves is an unexpected bonus in this nifty bargain-priced volume.