Touring and publicizing England's country houses in the long eighteenth century / Jocelyn Anderson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Anderson, Jocelyn, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Country homes--England--18th century.

Country homes.

England.

Place of Publication:

New York, New York : Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsburg Publishing, PLC, 2018.

Summary:

Over the course of the long eighteenth century, many of England's grandest country houses became known for displaying noteworthy architecture and design, large collections of sculptures and paintings, and expansive landscape gardens and parks. Although these houses continued to function as residences and spaces of elite retreat, they had powerful public identities: increasingly accessible to tourists and extensively described by travel writers, they began to be celebrated as sites of great importance to national culture. This book will examine how these identities emerged, repositioning the importance of country houses in eighteenth-century Britain and exploring what it took to turn them into tourist attractions. Drawing on travel books, guidebooks, and dozens of0tourists? diaries and letters, it offers a rich exploration of what it meant to tour country houses such as Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth, Wilton, Kedleston and Burghley in the tumultuous 1700s. It also questions the legacies of these early tourists: both as a critical cultural practice in the eighteenth century and an extraordinary and controversial influence in British culture today, country-house tourism is a phenomenon which demands investigation.

Over the course of the long eighteenth century, many of England's grandest country houses became known for displaying noteworthy architecture and design, large collections of sculptures and paintings, and expansive landscape gardens and parks. Although these houses continued to function as residences and spaces of elite retreat, they had powerful public identities: increasingly accessible to tourists and extensively described by travel writers, they began to be celebrated as sites of great importance to national culture. This book will examine how these identities emerged, repositioning the importance of country houses in eighteenth-century Britain and exploring what it took to turn them into tourist attractions. Drawing on travel books, guidebooks, and dozens of tourists' diaries and letters, it offers a rich exploration of what it meant to tour country houses such as Blenheim Palace, Chatsworth, Wilton, Kedleston and Burghley in the tumultuous 1700s. It also questions the legacies of these early tourists: both as a critical cultural practice in the eighteenth century and an extraordinary and controversial influence in British culture today, country-house tourism is a phenomenon which demands investigation.

Contents:

Introduction: 'Come Here for Entertainment and Instruction': Country Houses Exhibited to the Public

'For the Numerous Strangers Who Visit': Tourists' Itineraries and Practices

'A Sumptuous Pile of Building': Remaking the Sights and Spaces of the House

'Eminent in Public Estimation': The Transformation of Country Houses' Paintings and Sculptures

'A Degree of Taste and Elegance': Commenting on Country Houses' Interiors

'The Beauties of Nature': Descriptions of Country-House Gardens and Parks

Conclusion: 'The Visitor of Today': Legacies of 18th-Century Country-House Tourism

Appendix: Country-house Guidebooks.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Livezey Fund bookplate.

ISBN:

1501334972

9781501334979

OCLC:

1001548106