The Poetic Home : Designing the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Interior

Muthesius, Stefan

ISBN 10: 0500514194 / ISBN 13: 9780500514191

Published by Thames & Hudson, London, 2009

About this Item

The Poetic Home examines the Western domestic interior from the 1800s to the mid-1890s. It considers the design of the interior as a whole, making use of original 19th century texts and images to reveal what the designers, producers, shops and clients actually thought about the business of conjuring up romanticised interiors. 352 pages : illustrations (some colour) ; 32 cm. First edition, first printing. Green boards, unclipped dust jacket (now in a removable protective sleeve). Minimal shelf wear to edges, no inscriptions, tight and square binding. Photographs available on request. All books dispatched same or next working day in robust packaging. Heavy book, will require extra postage for overseas purchase.

Seller Inventory # 013118

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Poetic Home : Designing the Nineteenth-Century Domestic Interior
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson, London
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0500514194
• ISBN 13: 9780500514191
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Architecture and Design
  • Furniture
  • Textiles

About this title

Synopsis

Today we are surrounded by glossy publications and TV shows demonstrating the latest interiors. We take notions of style, comfort and atmosphere completely for granted, even designing our own rooms to achieve the right ‘mood’. Yet this language, seemingly so current, emerged in the 19th century, when a combination of economic, social and artistic factors first allowed architects, designers and clients to think about home interiors in a completely new way. Their challenge was to create atmosphere and character in ordinary living rooms – in short, to aspire to the new ideal of the ‘poetic home’. This book examines the Western domestic interior from the 1800s to the mid-1890s, but rather than concentrate on individual types of furnishing or on familiar historical styles, it proceeds in a radically different way: it considers the design of the interior as a whole, making use of original 19thcentury texts and images to reeveal what the designers, producers, shops and clients actually thought about the business of conjuring up romanticized interiors.

About the Author

Stefan Muthesius is a specialist in the 18th to 20th century history of architecture, urban design, and applied arts and design. His book The English Terraced House won the Sir Banister Fletcher Prize.