“Sir Ninian Comper - The Last Gothic Revivalist”
Anthony Symondson Royal Institute of British Architects, Heinz Gallery, Portman Square Feb 1988

In most Public Libraries:
"New Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"
- article on "Sir Ninian Comper"

BIBLIOGRAPHY
WRITINGS BY COMPER
Practical Considerations on the Gothic or English Altar and Certain Dependent Ornaments, Aberdeen. Scotland, Albany Press, 1893
[in “Transactions of Saint Paul’s Ecclesiological Society 1893, volume 3, part 4, pp195-224]

The Reasonableness of the Ornaments Rubric illustrated by a Comparison of the German and English Altars, London, Harrison & Son. 1897.
[in “Transactions of Saint Paul’s Ecclesiological Society 1897, volume 10, no 2, pp 29-87]

Further Thoughts on the English Altars or Practical Considerations on the Planning of a Modern Church. Cambridge, W Heifer & Sons. 1933.
[in “Transactions of Saint Paul’s Ecclesiological Society 1933, vol 10, no 2, pp 29-87]

The Atmosphere of a Church. London. Sheldon Press. 1940.

The Bishop Seabury Memorial, Aberdeen, St Andrew’s Cathedral, 1941.

Of the Christian Altar and the Buildings Which Contain It, London,
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1950.

SELECTED BOOKS AND ARTICLES
“The Work of John Ninian Comper: A Pioneer Architect of the Modern Liturgical Movement’, Anson, Peter F. Pax. 27, 1937, pp.177-84

Fashions in Church Furnishings Anson, Peter F. London, Faith Press, 1960.

The Call of the Cloister Anson, Peter F. London, SPCK, 1964.

‘A Note on J. N. Comper: Heir to Butterfield and Bodley’ Betjeman, John.
The Architectural Review, 85; 1939, pp 79-82

‘Sir Ninian Comper Active at 95’ Chappelow Alan, The Church Times 12 June 1959

English Art 1870-1940 Farr, Dennis. Oxford, The Clarendon Press, 1978

‘Sir Ninian Comper (1864-1960): Last of the Ecclesiologists’, Fenwick, Hubert, Anglican World, 1964, pp 20-24

‘Sir John Ninian Comper 1864-1960’, Hope, Michael, Transactions. RIBA,
1984, 6, pp 90-99

‘Comper, Sir John Ninian (1864-1960)’ Irvine, Gerard,
Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 1971

Some Principles and Services of the Prayer Book Historically Considered, Legg. J. Wickham, London. Rivingtons, 1899.

Edwardian England 1901-14 Nowell-Smith, Simon (ed). Oxford. 1964.

Architects of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Richardson Margaret ,
RIBA Drawings Series. London, Trefoil Books, 1983.

‘Sir Ninian Comper’ Symondson, Anthony, Macmillan Encyclopaedia of Architects, New York. 1982.

‘Sir Ninian Comper’ Tocher, Francis. Aberdeen. Leopard. October/November 1979.

New Publications - 2006:

"Sir Ninian Comper - An Introduction to his life and work with complete gazetteer"
Anthony Symondson SJ and Stephen Arthur Bucknall Spire Books & the Ecclesiological Society
ISBN 1-904965-11-3

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“Anglican Church Embroidery The Collaboration between John Ninian Comper and the Sisters of Bethany, 1885 to 1930” Beryl Moss 1997
[Bolton Institute/Manchester Metropolitan University]
Dissertation presented in part fulfilment of the MA History of Art and Design October

Bibliography (Pages 82 - 85)

The Architectural Setting of Anglican Worship, G W 0 Addleshaw and
F Etchells, Faber and Faber, 1948.

Needlework as Art M Alford, Samson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, 1886.

The Call of the Cloister, P Anson, A W Campbell, 1964.

Fashions in Church Furnishings, 1840- 1940 P Anson, The Faith Press 1965.

Needlework Through the Ages M S Antrobus and L Preece, Hodder and Stoughton, 1923

Designs for Church Needlework A S 1894.

Art Journal, Art Work for Women, parts I-Ill, 1872, pp 65-66, pp 102-103,
pp 129-131.

Ritualism and Politics in Victorian Britain, an Attempt to Legislate for Belief, J Bentley, Oxford University Press, 1978.

‘The Religious Intentions of the Cambridge Camden Society and their Effect on the Gothic Revival’ J Brine, in Fabrications, 1990/91, pp 4-18.

The Victorian Church, Architecture and Society, C Brooks, and A Saint (eds), Manchester University Press, 1995.

‘Victorian Office Practice and Victorian Architecture’ D Brownlee.
in Studies in the History of Art, 1993, pp 157-173.

Exhibition of English Embroidery Executed Prior to the Middle of the Sixteenth Century Burlington Fine Arts Club, London 1905.

Angel in the Studio, Women in the Arts and Crafts Movement, 1870-1914, A Callen, Astragal Books, 1979.

The Dictionary of Needlework, and Encyclopedia of Artistic, Plain and Fancy Needlework, Dealing Fully with the details of all the Stitches Employed, S F A Caulfield, and B C Saward, Upcott Gill, 1881.

Church Congress Catalogues, 1864-1890.

‘Practical Considerations on th Gothic or English Altar and Certain Dependent Ornaments’J N Comper, in Transactions of Saint Paul’s Ecclesiological Society, 1893, vol 3, part 4, pp 195-224.

‘The Reasonableness of the Ornaments Rubric, Illustrated by a Comparison of the German and English Altar’
J N Comper, in Transactions of Saint Paul’s Ecciesiological Society, 1897, vol 4, part 2, pp 65-97.

‘Further Thoughts on the English Altar, or Practical Considerations on the Planning of a Modern Church’
J N Comper, in Transactions of St Paul’s Ecclessiological Society, 1933, vol 10, no 2, pp 29-87.

Of the Christian Altar and the Buildings Which Contain It J N Comper,
SPCK. 1950.

‘Ecclesiastical Art-Manufactures, Ill. Embroidery.’ E L Cuffs, in the Art Journal. December 1865, pp 357-360.

Ecclesiastical Vestments’ E L Cuffs, in Art JournaL 1865.

Worship and Theology in England H Davies, 1962.

Art in Needlework L F Day, Batstord, 1900, 3rd ed.

Church Embroidery, Ancient and Modern A M Dolby, Chapman and Hall, 1867.

Needlework for Ladies for Pleasure and for Profit Dorinda, Swan, Sonneshein, Lowrey and Company,1886.

Victorian Architecture, A Dixon and S Muthesius, Thames and Hudson 1978

Church Embroidery A Dryden, A R Mowbray, 1911.

Ecclesiologist, 1843-1861.

A Manual of Church Decoration and Symbolism E Geldart, 1899.

The Art of Garnishing Churches E Geldart, 1882.

‘The Role of Embroidery in Victorian Culture and the Pre-Raphaelite Circle’ J A George, and S Campbell,
in Journal of Pre-Raphaelite Studies, 1987, vol 7, no 2, May, pp 55-67.

Church Needlework H M Hands, Palmer, 1907.

English Mediaeval Embroidery C H Hartshorne, John Henry Parker, 1848.

‘Victorian Ecclesiastical Embroidery’ J Harris, in Embroidery, Summer 1988, pp 77-78.

‘Sir John Ninian Comper’ M Hope, in Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1984,
vol 3, part 2 (6) pp 90-99.

Victorian Churches P Howell and I Sutton (eds), , Faber and Faber, 1989

‘Leek Embroidery’ A Jacques, in Embroidery, Spring 1988, pp 10-14.

Victorian Church Art N Jones, in Embroidery, Spring 1972, pp 14-15.

British and Irish Architectural History, a Bibliography and Guide to Sources of Information R H Kamen,
Architectural Press 1981.

English Needlework A F Kendrick, Black, 1933.

Church Needlework Miss Lambert, 1844.

The Directorium Anglicanum, Being a Manual of Directions for the Right Celebration of the Holy Communion, for the Sayings of Matins and Evensong, and for the Performance of Other Rites and ceremonies of the Church
F 0 Lee, Thomas Bosworth, 1865.

Discovering Embroidery of the Nineteenth Century S Levey, Shire Publications, 1977.

Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Fair and Beautiful to Behold, exhibition pamphlet, 1992.

Art Embroidery MS Lockwood, and E Glaister, 1878.

‘Art Needlework parts I-IV Magazine of Art, , pp 76-79, pp 178-182, pp 388-391, pp 428-431. nd

Raiment for the Lord’s Service, A Thousand Years of Western Vestments C C Mayer-Thurman, Art Institute of Chicago, 1975.

Victorian Embroidery B Morris, Herbert Jenkins, 1962.

Decorative Needlework M Morris, 1893.

‘A “Truly Feminine Employment” Sewing and the Early Nineteenth Century Woman’ A B Osaki, in Winterthur Portfolio, 1988, vol 23, part 4, pp 225-241.

The Subversive Stitch, Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine R Parker,
The Women’s Press, 1986.

‘William Morris’s Early Church Embroideries’ L Parry, in Embroidery, Autumn 1986, pp 90-91.

William Morris Textiles L Parry, Weidenfeld and Nocholson, 1983.

‘The Oxford Movement Ecclesiastical Vestments’ S Pedley, in Embroidery, Spring 1984, pp 12-13.

Six Hundred New Churches; a Study of the Church Building Commission 1818-56 and its Church Building Activities M H Port, SPCK. 1961.

Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume A W N Pugin,
Compiled from Ancient Authorities and Examples, 1844, London.

‘Ancient and Modern Altar Cloths’B C Saward, in The Art Journal, 1893, pp 349-352

Memoir of George Edmund Street A E Street, R. A. 1888.

‘On Mediaeval Embroidery’ G E Street, in The Ecclesiologist, no CLVIII, October 1863, pp 255-280.

The History of the Leek Embroidery Society, an Introductory Essay D 0 Stuart, University of Keele, 1969

‘Art Needlework in Ireland, J N Comper and the Royal School of Art Needlework’ A Symondson, in Irish Arts Review Year Book, 1994, vol 10, pp 126-135.

‘John Betjeman and the Cult of J N Comper’ A Symondson, in Thirties Society Journal, 1991, no 7, pp 2-13 & p 52.

Sir Ninian Comper; The last Gothic Revivalist A Symondson, RIBA, 1988.

Times, 1870 to 1890.

Opus Anglicanum, English Medieval Embroidery, Victoria and Albert Museum. Arts Council, 1963.

Victorian Church Art Victoria and Albert Museum. 1971.

A Century of Decorative Excellence Watts and Company, Exhibition Pamphlet, September 1995.

The Oxford Movement and Anglican Ritualism, N Yates, The Historical Association, 1983.

Buildings, Faith and Worship, the Liturgical Arrangement of Anglican Churches, 1600-1900, N Yates,
Clarendon Press, 1995

Archives, Museums, Exhibitions, Drawings Collections and Church Collections Consulted:

The Comper Archives at the Royal Institute of British Architects, British Architectural Library, Portland Place, London.
Files COJ 29/8, 39/3, 78/1, 78/5, 78/6-7, 79/1-4, 87/1-2, 87/2-6, 87/9, 87/11-12, 91/4 92/1-2, 92/5,

The Comper Drawings Collection at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Drawings Collection, Portman Square, London. The uncatalogued collection in store in lslington.

Collections of embroidery designs and architectural drawings at the Royal Institute of British Architects, Portman Square, London. Boxed Designs by Ernest Geldart XII, X11/25, 0S6/8, 0S6/11; Bodley and Garner 26/7, 26/8, Z6/7, Z6/8; J D Sedding Ran 71/H/2, 71/F/1(1-7), 71/F/5 (1-14), 71/G/2 (1-2); Seddon V3/6; Horsley U4/21, U4/2, U4/5 (1-6).

The Print Room, Henry Cole Wing, Victoria and Albert Museum. Embroidery designs G Wardle (attr) E66, 67. 1940; Butterfield E638, 1981; Geldart E540 1956, E541 1956; Seddon D/907/96.

The Purchas Collection, Rachel-Kaye Shuttleworth Collection, Gawthorpe Hall, Padiham, Burnley. Box D3 -large collection of several hundred embroidery samples from the Wantage Convent and three large altar frontals, provenance uncertain.

The Elizabeth Hoare Collection exhibition and archives, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, uncatalogued

The Archives and embroidery collection of the Sisters of Bethany, Nelson Road, Southsea, Hampshire, uncatalogued.

St Martin on the Hill, Scarborough. Yorkshire.
St Edward the Confessor, Leek, Staffordshire.
St Edward the Confessor Cheddleton, Staffordshire.
Keble College Chapel, Oxford.
The Radcliffe Infirmary Chapel, Oxford.
The Cathedral Church of St Nicholas, Newcastle.

Other Book Suggestions:

Books in [ ] parenthesis in above Bibliographies, where further suggestions made

M Schoeser “English Church Embroidery 1833-1953”,

The Watts Book of Embroidery, Watts & Co Ltd, in association with the Friends of the Liverpool Cathedral Museum, London 1998

The Comper Archives at the RIBA, British Architectural Library, Portland Place, London

New Publications - 2006:

"Beginners Guide to Goldwork" Ruth ChamberlinSearch Press
ISBN-10:0-85532-954-8 [See pages 10/11]