Violet Pritchard published English Medieval Graffiti in 1967, the result of research undertaken predominantly in churches in and around Cambridge.[4] The book was the first full-length work in English to be written on church graffiti, and became the key study for scholars and enthusiasts in the following decades.[4][7] Although Pritchard herself, and scholars since, noted the shortcomings of the work, it is considered a groundbreaking study.[8][5]
The book contained more than 200 rubbings illustrating the graffiti, and was described as demonstrating "the remarkable richness and variety of medieval drawings and inscriptions on the walls of churches".[9][10]
In her introduction, Pritchard wrote:
The drawings are in some ways of greater interest than the inscriptions, for they invoke the past in a manner which no inscription could achieve. A picture arrests time and brings to life a lost moment in a century long past. Many of the drawings are hitherto unknown gems of medieval art: lost treasures refound, only to be lost again for ever if steps are not taken to preserve them.[11]
Antonio Castillo Gómez has noted the significance of Pritchard's approach, suggesting that her "work staked a claim for the importance of writings and drawings on walls for our knowledge of the economy, social structure and way of life of a given place and time, and she treated them as historical sources".[12]