Material Relations: Domestic Interiors and Middle-Class Families in England, 1850-1910 (Studies in Design and Material Culture) - Softcover

Hamlett, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0719099250 ISBN 13: 9780719099250

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 2015

Synopsis

Material relations, now available in paperback, tells the story of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century middle-class families by exploring the domestic spaces they inhabited and the material goods they prized. By opening the doors of the house, the book sheds new light on aspects of family life including love, marriage, sex, childhood and death. Historians have argued that as the nineteenth century waned, domestic spaces became increasingly private. Material relations challenges this, contending that domestic space created a complex series of family intimacies. Drawing upon novels, advice manuals and magazines, alongside sources for everyday use such as diaries, autobiographies, sale catalogues and inventories, wills and photographs, this fascinating book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of modern history, English literature, cultural studies, social geography, history of art and history of design.

About this title

Product Description:

Material relations tells the story of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century middle-class families by exploring the domestic spaces they inhabited and the material goods they prized. By opening the doors of the house, the book sheds new light on aspects of family life including love, marriage, sex, childhood and death. Historians have argued that as the nineteenth century waned, domestic spaces became increasingly private. Material relations challenges this, contending that domestic space created a complex series of family intimacies. Drawing upon novels, advice manuals and magazines, alongside sources for everyday use such as diaries, autobiographies, sale catalogues and inventories, wills and photographs, this fascinating book will be of particular interest to scholars and students of modern history, English literature, cultural studies, social geography, history of art and history of design.

Review:

'A lively, interesting and important book...Material Relations is a fine achievement. Engagingly written, attractively produced and generously illustrated.' Times Higher Education, March 17, 2011 'Hamlett has uncovered the complexities of domestic relationships over the life cycle and, in so doing, has offered a more three-dimensional vision of lived experiences in the past.' Sandra Trudgen Dawson, Northern Illinois University, Journal of British Studies, 1 April 2012 'This is an interesting, worthwhile book which brings together a mass of recent research: it is robustly interdisciplinary in its approach while raising a series of important historical questions about our understanding of Victorian home life.' Carol Dyhouse, University of Sussex, 1 June 2012 -- .

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0719099250
• ISBN 13: 9780719099250
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288