This attractive publication looks at Voysey's life and work. The opening chapter briefly discusses Voysey's upbringing and education and progress towards becoming an architect. Subsequent chapters concentrate on various aspects of his work as architect and designer. A further chapter considers Voysey's career through successes to periods of difficulty.

The book is illustrated throughout in colour and black and white, over 65 colour illustrations, mostly up to full page in size show architectural designs, textile and wallpaper designs. There are also a number of line drawings and several photographs. The book includes note to the text and a bibliography, but there is no index.

This is a beautifully produced book, and much care and thought has clearly gone into its design. The sensitive sans font chosen for the text compliments the illustrations both in weight and style. The opening page for each chapter is distinctively designed. The quality of reproduction of the illustrations is excellent, capturing every nuance in the Voysey's original design. ( )

Books on artists can be little better than picture books at times, but this volume highlighted how Voysey's world-view, philosophy, and personality expressed itself through his work. It was well produced and illustrated, and an enjoyable read and I'll certainly keep my eye out for more books from this publisher. ( )

This is a beautifully produced book from cover to cover, with fascinating photos at each opening. I had never heard of Charles Voysey before reading this book; somehow in my mind the British Arts and Crafts Movement began and ended with William Morris and his associates, with maybe a bit of Mackintosh. I was missing a lot. It was enlightening to learn more about the movement and one of its (unjustly) lesser-known members. Not only did the book spark an interest in its subject, I will also be on the lookout for more books from Pomegranate, obviously a first-class publisher. ( )

Wow, is the first thing you think when you see this book. The cover is stunningly beautiful and fortunately the writing is equally appealing. This is book is a great primer on C. F. A. Voysey, whom I never heard of previously but am interested in learning more about due to this book. ( )

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857-1941) was, as the cover of this beautiful publication states, an architect, a designer, and an individualist. He was also the father of the modern home, the bungalow. I first became aware of him back in the 60s because a high school acquaintance lived in a Voysey designed house. I thought it was the most unique and charming structure but knew little of its designer until I read C.F.A. Voysey, Architect, Designer, Individualist by Anne Stewart O’Donnell.

Voysey was heavily influenced by his father’s perspective on life. Charles Voysey Sr. was an Anglican minister who was expelled from the church in 1869 and went on to form his own faith, Theism, “The Religion of Common Sense”. As O’Donnell tells us, he was an “outspoken man of faith with a strong reformist bent,” who had “argued against the divinity of Christ, the existence of Hell, the need for clergy as intermediaries between God and His people, and the literal truth of the Bible.” Home schooled by a man of such strong convictions couldn’t help but influence his son.

The period prior to the First World War was a tremendously exciting one in England - all of Europe, really - for innovative designers. William Morris, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones were all at work. The young architect began working with George Devey, the architect for the Rothschilds, beginning by building outbuildings for their country homes. This experience of building purely functional structures (stables, staff cottages) taught Voysey to use local materials in the manner of rural builders and formed the basis for the houses he would later design: simple, quietly elegant structures with no superfluous ornamentation, often clad in rough cast.

But getting a career in architecture up and running was no easy task so Voysey had to supplement his income (particularly after he married and had children) by designing textiles and wallpapers. His designs grew to be the most sought after and renowned ones of their day. He showed a real genius for pattern. When he was told that birds weren’t desirable in wallpapers, he persisted, and his stylised bird patterns are still fresh and lovely to the modern eye.

Voysey brought to his designs a “comprehensive spiritual worldview”, as O’Donnell phrases it, which she explores in the chapter “The Heart of the Matter: Indivuality”. She quotes him as saying that human beings share the qualities of “reverence, love, justice, mercy, honesty, candour, generosity, humility, loyalty, order” and these were the qualities he sought to imbue into all of his works.

This is a beautiful publication, with generous prints of his work, as well as sketches and photos of his houses. It revives an artist who might otherwise have slipped into obscurity beneath the better known personalities of William Morris and Rennie Macintosh. My only criticism of the book is that it wasn't long enough! I would have been happy to read more about this fascinating man. ( )