Life in the English Country House (Paper): A Social and Architectural History - Softcover

Mark Girouard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300058705 ISBN 13: 9780300058703

Publisher: Yale University Press, 1993

Synopsis

This best-selling book is a beautifully illustrated history of the English country house from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. In it, renowned architectural historian Mark Girouard presents a rare and revealing glimpse of the English upper classes-their public and personal lives, their servants, and their homes. "A deeply important book, one of the most interesting contributions to architectural history."-J. H. Plumb, The New York Review of Books "A survey of country houses through the past five centuries, from a broad range of materials: family archives, literature, plans and photographs.... The book itself is a physical artifact of surpassing beauty which could fit on the grandest table in the houses it describes."-David Hackett Fischer, The New Republic "Informative, balanced, knowledgeable, and witty."-The New Yorker "This enthralling and immensely informative book...tells with wit, scholarship, and lucidity how the country house evolved to meet the needs and reflect the social attitudes of the times."-Philip Ziegler, The Times "One of those very useful and very enjoyable books that the learned can seldom write, and the entertaining seldom achieve-clear, detailed, and witty."-Angus Wilson, The Observer Winner of the 1978 Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and the W. H. Smith & Son Annual Literary Award for 1979.

About this title

Synopsis:

The English country house has flourished over the centuries because of its ability to adapt to the changes in English society. This book is an account of the ways in which the upper-class life style were reflected in the houses in which the wealthy and powerful lived. First published in 1978, this is a history of the English country house from the point of view of its owners and users. Ranging from the Middle Ages to the world of Evelyn Waugh, the author also discusses and illustrates how the life of the upper classes shaped their country hosues, how they entertained and were served, how they ran the country and their estates and how they reconciled personal privacy and public display.

About the Author:

Mark Girouard is one of Britain's leading architectural historians. His books include The English Town, Cities and People, The Victorian Country House, The Return to Camelot, Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan Country House, Victorian Pubs, Sweetness and Light, and Town and Country.

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0300058705
• ISBN 13: 9780300058703
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 352