History of Architecture in All Countries

Schliemann dedicated his great work, Tiryns to Fergusson wrote in his book :

“the historian of architecture, eminent alike for his knowledge of art and for the original genius which he has applied to the solution of some of its most difficult problems.”

James Fergusson’s “most important book,” according to Nikolaus Pevsner, was his History of Modern Styles in Architecture (1862), which, like his earlier Illustrated Handbook of Architecture, was recast and incorporated into his 3-volume A History of Architecture in All Countries — a major milestone in the history of architectural writing, because it was “the first serious history of world architecture” (Watkin).

Interestingly, Fergusson’s earliest work came out of his experience as a young man in India, and the subcontinent remained an abiding source of inspiration for him. It encouraged him to see beyond the various revivals of his age, and to believe that each culture should have its own appropriate and distinctive architecture.

Impact is making his most important contribution to the history of architecture available again in reformatted editions,
— Tree and Serpent Worship, or Illustrations of Mythology and Art in India, (1868)
— Rude Stone Monuments in all countries, (1872)
— History of the modern styles of architecture (1891)
— History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, 2nd Edition (1910)
— The Rock-cut Temples of India