The Exeter Drawings of John Carter: A Rare Book in a Private Collection in New Zealand

The English architect John Carter (1748–1817) was a prodigious writer about medieval architecture, a fanaticism resulting in more than 380 articles and twelve books. Vociferous in his plea against James Wyatt’s architectural ‘improvements’, Carter was, in Rosemary Sweet’s words, ‘the most vocal and dogmatic exponent of the view that the Gothic style was indigenous to England and owed nothing to foreign influence’. This article examines a copy of Carter’s Exeter Cathedral book from a private collection in New Zealand, to consider Carter’s wider influence on the Gothic revival.