The Hitchcock award is still given annually by the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain to the author of a British literary work providing an outstanding contribution to the study or knowledge of architectural history.
The big appeal of this 1966 example – a 4in (11cm) Wedgwood green jasperware profile of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart – was its recipient, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-83). After moving to the UK from Germany in the 1930s, he had found little information available to travellers about the architecture of a particular district.
Helped by other German refugee art historians and backed by Allen Lane, founder of Penguin Books, in 1945 he began the Buildings of England series of county guides that ultimately numbered 46 volumes.
