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Throughout the long history of building, the simple brick has served many functions in many guises. This is a study of this universal building material, throughout history and around the world. As well as tracing the long and remarkable story of the many uses of the brick, it surveys the myriad designs possible in brick architecture and the techniques of brick fabrication, and examines the engineering properties of brickwork when used as a major structural component - from the simple garden wall to the arch, to the mediaeval cathedral. A comprehensive technical section covers materials and construction techniques - brick types, their manufacture, selection of which brick for which job, construction techniques (mortars, jointing, pointing and bonding), structural techniques (walls, buttresses, corbelling, cornices, arches and vaults) and conservation.