Noble Households
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 Jacket showing "The General Front of Blenheim Castle", from John Woolfe and James Gandon, Vitruvius Britannicus, vol. v, 1771 | |
| Author | Tessa Murdoch, with inventories transcribed by Candace Briggs and Laurie Lindey |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
Release number | 1st edition |
| Subject | Social history, Material culture |
| Published | Cambridge |
| Publisher | John Adamson |
Publication date | 21 November 2006 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-0-9524322-5-8 |
| OCLC | 78044620 |
| LC Class | NK928 .N53 2006 |
| Website | Book on publisher's website |
Noble Households: Eighteenth-Century Inventories of Great English Houses presents transcripts of inventories of nine great country houses and four London town houses as a tribute to the late historian John Cornforth.
The inventories document in astounding detail the taste and lifestyle of leading noble families and their households. John Cornforth first "put forward the idea of this publication as a primary resource for the interpretation of the historic interior".[1] As the book's dust-wrapper states, it was his hope that it "would revitalise the study of the great house in the eighteenth century".[2]
Structure
The inventories, compiled for a variety of purposes by professional appraisers in conjunction with family members or their stewards, are supplemented with a glossary and index to the items listed. The inventories are grouped as follows:
Part I: Montagu Inventories
- Montagu House, Bloomsbury, London, 1709[3] and 1733[4]
- Boughton House, Northamptonshire, 1709,[5] 1718 and 1730[6]
- Ditton House, Buckinghamshire, 1709[7]
- Montagu House, Whitehall, London, 1746[8]
Part II: The Drayton Inventories
- Drayton House, Northamptonshire, 1710 and 1724[9]
Part III: The Ditchley Inventories
Part IV: Norfolk Inventories
- Houghton Hall, 1745[12] and 1792[13]
- Holkham Hall, Norfolk, and Thanet House, London, 1760 [14]
Part V: Inventories of the Marquess of Carmarthen
- Kiveton and Thorp Salvin, Yorkshire, 1727[15]
Part VI: The Marlborough Inventories
- Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and Marlborough House, London, 1740[16]
The end matter comprises:
- Glossary and concordance
- Further reading (John Cornforth's writings which draw on the inventories in this book)
- Credits (photographs and inventories)
- Index