The Housekeeper's Tale. The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
Language: English
Published by Aurum Press Ltd, London, 2014
- First Edition
- Signed
- Hardcover
- Used

Seller: The Print Room, Cockernhoe nr Luton, United KingdomThe Print Room
AbeBooks seller since November 2, 2010
Condition: Used - Fine
£ 30.00
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
First edition, first impression with full number line. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR, IN BLACK INK, WITHOUT DEDICATION, ON TITLE PAGE. Some very slight edge wear to top of jacket and spine, top corners very slightly bruised, not price clipped (£20.00), no other inscriptions, internally clean tight and square, overall a vg++ copy, looks unread. 314pp, illustrated. Working as a housekeeper was one of the most prestigious jobs a nineteenth and early twentieth century woman could want, and also one of the toughest. A far cry from the Downton Abbey fiction, the real life Mrs Hughes was up against capricious mistresses, low pay, no job security and gruelling physical labour. Until now, her story has never been told. 'The Housekeeper's Tale' reveals the personal sacrifices, bitter disputes and driving ambition that shaped these women's careers. Delving into secret diaries, unpublished letters and the neglected service archives of our stately homes, Tessa Boase tells the extraordinary stories of five working women who ran some of Britain's most prominent households. There is Dorothy Doar, Regency housekeeper for the obscenely wealthy 1st Duke and Duchess of Sutherland at Trentham Hall, Staffordshire. There is Sarah Wells, a deaf and elderly Victorian in charge of Uppark, West Sussex. Ellen Penketh is Edwardian cook housekeeper at the sociable but impecunious Erddig Hall in the Welsh borders. Hannah Mackenzie runs Wrest Park in Bedfordshire, Britain¿s first country house war hospital, bankrolled by playwright J. M. Barrie. And there is Grace Higgens, cook housekeeper to the Bloomsbury set at Charleston farmhouse in East Sussex for half a century, an era defined by the Second World War. Revelatory, gripping and unexpectedly poignant, 'The Housekeeper's Tale' champions the invisible women who ran the English country house. Scarce signed.…
Seller Inventory # 005824
- Title
- The Housekeeper's Tale. The Women Who Really Ran the English Country House
- Author
- Boase, Tessa
- Publisher
- Aurum Press Ltd, London
- Publication year
- 2014
- Condition
- Fine
- Dust jacket
- Fine
- Signed
- Signed by Author(s)
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1781310432
- ISBN 13
- 9781781310434
- Illustrator
- Jacket by Joanna MacGregor
- Edition
- 1st Edition
- Printing
- 1st Printing
- Dimensions
- 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
The Print Room
Cockernhoe nr Luton, United Kingdom
AbeBooks seller since November 2, 2010
Shipping rates from United Kingdom to U.S.A.
| Item | 14 to 45 business days | 5 to 10 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 25.00 | £ 30.00 |
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Store description
Old and rare books, watercolours and prints.
Specialty
Historical biography, History of art, Art reference, History of Road Transport, Modern first editions, Books signed by the authorSeller's business information
The Print Room
United Kingdom
Terms of sale
Alison Balfour-Lynn
Dog Kennel Farm
Lilley nr Luton
N. Herts
LU2 8LQ
info@putteridgebury.com
07778 517486
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