PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 



ALTHOUGH the admission may be construed by 

 the censorious as betraying a lack of becoming 

 diffidence, I am tempted to believe that no 

 apology will be demanded for the publication of 

 this volume by that section of the reading public 

 for which it has been chiefly compiled. My 

 temerity goes even further, and I anticipate with 

 some confidence that visitors to the Alhambra, 

 and pilgrims to that famous Mecca of Moorish 

 workmanship, will recognise in this book an 

 earnest attempt to supply a long-felt want. 

 When I paid my first visit to Granada some years 

 ago, I was surprised and disappointed to find 

 that no such thing as an even fairly adequate 

 illustrated souvenir of this " city of the dawn ' 

 was to be obtained. Many tomes, costly and 

 valuable (not necessarily the same thing), have 

 been written to place on record the wonders of 

 " the glorious sanctuary of Spain," but these are 

 beyond the reach of the general public. Many 

 beautiful pictures have caught odd ecstasies of 



