Editing Nikolaus Pevsner (section)

== Second World War ==
Pevsner was "[[more German than the Germans]]" to the extent that he supported "[[Goebbels]] in his drive for 'pure' non-decadent German art".<ref name="Pearman">{{cite news |url = http://hughpearman.com/pevsner-and-the-nazis-round-two-who-and-what-did-the-great-architectural-historian-want-to-be/ |newspaper = The Sunday Times |date = 28 March 2010 |title = Prepare to be Outraged |quote = Review of ''Pevsner – the Early Life'', by Stephen Games |via = hughpearman.com |access-date = 14 May 2014 |archive-date = 22 March 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160322175854/http://hughpearman.com/pevsner-and-the-nazis-round-two-who-and-what-did-the-great-architectural-historian-want-to-be/ |url-status = dead }}</ref> He was reported as saying of the [[Nazis]] (in 1933): "I want this movement to succeed. There is no alternative but chaos... There are things worse than [[Hitlerism]]."{{sfn|Games|2010|p=}} Pevsner's political leanings following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor in January 1933 are clearly revealed in several extracts from his diaries and letters that Suzie Harries includes in her 2011 book ''Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life''. For example, the following observation is made by Pevsner on the boat to [[Dover]] in October 1933: "The second-class is almost entirely occupied by non-[[Aryan race|Aryans]]. Dreadful, dreadful – to think that's where I belong."<ref>Harries, Susie, ''Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 2011), p. 133.</ref> Nonetheless, he was included in the Nazi [[The Black Book (list)|Black Book]] as someone hostile to the Hitler regime.

In 1940, Pevsner was taken to the [[internment camp]] at [[Huyton#Second World War|Huyton]], [[Liverpool]] as an [[enemy alien]]. Geoffrey Grigson later wrote in his ''Recollections'' (1984): "When at last two hard-faced [[Bow Street Runners|Bow Street runners]] arrived in the early hours of the morning to take [him] ... I managed, clutching my pyjama trousers, to catch them up with the best parting present I could quickly think of, which was an elegant little edition, a new edition, of [[Shakespeare's Sonnets]]."<ref>Grigson, Geoffrey, ''Recollections, Mainly of Writers and Artists'' (Hogarth Press, 1984), quoted in Harries 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=FjSKfNcjGUsC&dq=pevsner%2Bgeoffrey+grigson%2BShakespeare+Sonnets&pg=PA273 p. 273].</ref> Pevsner was released after three months on the intervention of, among others, [[Frank Pick]], then Director-General of the [[Ministry of Information (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Information]]. He spent some time in the months after [[the Blitz]] clearing bomb debris, and wrote reviews and art criticism for the Ministry of Information's {{lang|de|[[Die Zeitung]]}}, an anti-Nazi publication for Germans living in England. He also completed for [[Penguin Books]] the [[Pelican Books|Pelican]] paperback ''An Outline of European Architecture'', which he had begun to develop while in internment. ''Outline'' would eventually go into seven editions, be translated into 16 languages, and sell more than half a million copies.{{Citation needed|date=May 2022}}
[[File:Allen Lane.jpg|thumb|right|Pevsner's 30-year partnership with [[Allen Lane]] (above) was central to the success of the ''Buildings of England'']]
In 1942 Pevsner finally secured two regular positions. From 1936 onwards he had been a frequent contributor to the ''[[Architectural Review]]'' and from 1943 to 1945 he stood in as its acting editor while the regular editor [[James Maude Richards|J. M. Richards]] was on active service. Under the ''AR''{{'}}s influence, Pevsner's approach to modern architecture became more complex and more moderate.{{sfn|Pevsner|2010|p=}} Early signs of a lifelong interest in Victorian architecture, also influenced by the ''[[Architectural Review]]'', appeared in a series written under the pseudonym of "Peter F. R. Donner": Pevsner's "Treasure Hunts" guided readers down selected London streets, pointing out architectural treasures of the 19th century. He was also closely involved with the ''Review''{{'}}s proprietor, [[H. de C. Hastings]], in evolving the magazine's theories on [[picturesque]] planning.{{sfn|Erten|2004|p=}} In the same year Pevsner was appointed a part-time lecturer at [[Birkbeck, University of London|Birkbeck College]], London; he would eventually retire from the college in 1969 as its first Professor of Art History. He lectured at [[Cambridge University]] for almost 30 years, having been [[Slade Professor of Fine Art]] there for a record six years from 1949 to 1955, and was also the [[Slade Professor of Fine Art|Slade Professor]] at [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] in 1968.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://arthistorians.info/pevsnern/ |first=Leo|last=Sorensen|title=Sir Nikolaus Bernard Leon Pevsner: Obituary|publisher=Dictionary of Art Historians|access-date=15 August 2024}}</ref>

Framing all this was his career as a writer and editor. After moving to England, Pevsner had found that the study of architectural history had little status in academic circles, and the amount of information available, especially to travellers wanting to inform themselves about the architecture of a particular district, was limited. Invited by [[Allen Lane]], founder of [[Penguin Books]], for whom he had written his ''Outline'' and also edited the [[King Penguin Books|King Penguin series]],<ref>[http://www.booksandwriters.co.uk/writer/K/king-penguins.asp King Penguin], Books and Writers {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100102070523/http://www.booksandwriters.co.uk/writer/K/king-penguins.asp |date=2 January 2010 }}</ref> to suggest ideas for future publications, he proposed a series of comprehensive county guides to rectify this shortcoming.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/apr/21/a-day-with-nikolaus-pevsner-1960 |first=Geoffrey|last=Moorhouse|author-link=Geoffrey Moorhouse|title=A day with Nikolaus Pevsner - It always pays to go the wrong way|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=21 April 1960|access-date=15 August 2024}}</ref>