This first of two volumes, based on the 19th-century publication of Owen Jones's plates and text of the Alhambra, contains 22 chapters with 36 Owen Jones plates and over 200 new figures giving chronological ground plans, elevations and analyses of the architecture, decoration and epigraphy. It provides a general introduction to Nasrid art and architecture, explains the Nasrid proportional system of design, and discusses the early Nasrid palaces and the great city gates.