'The genius of English architecture is the glory of England, second only to the printed word.' Thus Sacheverell Sitwell (younger brother of Edith and Osbert Sitwell) concludes British Architects and Craftsmen, an absorbing survey of taste, design, and style from 1600 to 1830, first published to great critical acclaim in 1945. By including not only Sir Christopher Wren, Sir John Vanbrugh, William Kent and other great English architects, but also the craftsmen - the clockmakers, the silversmiths, the bookbinders, and the weavers of tapestry - he gives a remarkable and complete picture of this period. Sitwell recalls the period with vivid and penetrating insight. Now recognised as a classic, considered by many to be the finest of Sitwell's books about art history - and with over two hundred illustrations drawn from photographs, prints and drawings - this is an essential book for all architects and lovers of fine buildings.

"Valse des Fleurs" recreates one glittering day in the life of St. Petersburg in its heyday. It summons up a lost generation of courtiers, servants, guards, officials and dignitaries otherwise swept to oblivion by the Russian Revolution. Though slim enough to read on the train from Moscow, "Valse des Fleurs" has a haunting and evocative power. It is the perfect introduction to the Imperial capital of the Tsars.

This is a new release of the original 1924 edition.

This is a new release of the original 1929 edition.

1924. These essays on Baroque Art constitute more than merely a book of music and art criticism. They are an attempt at a recreation, through a consideration of its artistic expression, of the civilization of seventeenth and eighteenth century Spain and Italy. The more famous names are deliberately omitted, the artists considered being the many lesser masters about whom the critical exegesis has not yet raged, and whose names are for the most part unfamiliar even to those with some pretensions to a knowledge of the period. It is through his analysis of the common motive force which actuated the productions of these men that Mr. Sitwell has arrived at an interpretation of the art and the spiritual life of the time to which a book of purely formal criticism might perhaps never have brought him. The book is in this way complementary to all the existing literature on the subject, and it provides an extremely valuable and definitive study of Baroque Art both for the student and the general reader. The wonders that the author describes are confirmed by the plates with which the work is illustrated.

1924. These essays on Baroque Art constitute more than merely a book of music and art criticism. They are an attempt at a recreation, through a consideration of its artistic expression, of the civilization of seventeenth and eighteenth century Spain and Italy. The more famous names are deliberately omitted, the artists considered being the many lesser masters about whom the critical exegesis has not yet raged, and whose names are for the most part unfamiliar even to those with some pretensions to a knowledge of the period. It is through his analysis of the common motive force which actuated the productions of these men that Mr. Sitwell has arrived at an interpretation of the art and the spiritual life of the time to which a book of purely formal criticism might perhaps never have brought him. The book is in this way complementary to all the existing literature on the subject, and it provides an extremely valuable and definitive study of Baroque Art both for the student and the general reader. The wonders that the author describes are confirmed by the plates with which the work is illustrated.

1929. The subject of this book has so vast a complexity that two principles have been easy to satisfy: that the things discussed should be non-Italian, and that they should be remote from ordinary experience. Illustrated. Partial Contents: Visit of the Gypsies, A Castle and an Abbey; These Sad Ruins, At the Play; Life in the Dead Street; The Fair-Haired Victory; Monasteries.

This early work is a fascinating read for any ornithologist or nature enthusiast. Sixteen beautiful plates by John Gould are accompanied by notes about the varied tropical birds featured. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This early work is a fascinating read for any ornithologist or nature enthusiast. Sixteen beautiful plates by John Gould are accompanied by notes about the varied tropical birds featured. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Originally published London, 1924. Contents Include: The Serenade at Caserta - "Les Indes Galantes" - The King and the Nightingale - Biography etc. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Originally published London, 1924. Contents Include: The Serenade at Caserta "Les Indes Galantes" The King and the Nightingale Biography etc. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Home Farm Books are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

1924. These essays on Baroque Art constitute more than merely a book of music and art criticism. They are an attempt at a recreation, through a consideration of its artistic expression, of the civilization of seventeenth and eighteenth century Spain and Italy. The more famous names are deliberately omitted, the artists considered being the many lesser masters about whom the critical exegesis has not yet raged, and whose names are for the most part unfamiliar even to those with some pretensions to a knowledge of the period. It is through his analysis of the common motive force which actuated the productions of these men that Mr. Sitwell has arrived at an interpretation of the art and the spiritual life of the time to which a book of purely formal criticism might perhaps never have brought him. The book is in this way complementary to all the existing literature on the subject, and it provides an extremely valuable and definitive study of Baroque Art both for the student and the general reader. The wonders that the author describes are confirmed by the plates with which the work is illustrated.

1924. These essays on Baroque Art constitute more than merely a book of music and art criticism. They are an attempt at a recreation, through a consideration of its artistic expression, of the civilization of seventeenth and eighteenth century Spain and Italy. The more famous names are deliberately omitted, the artists considered being the many lesser masters about whom the critical exegesis has not yet raged, and whose names are for the most part unfamiliar even to those with some pretensions to a knowledge of the period. It is through his analysis of the common motive force which actuated the productions of these men that Mr. Sitwell has arrived at an interpretation of the art and the spiritual life of the time to which a book of purely formal criticism might perhaps never have brought him. The book is in this way complementary to all the existing literature on the subject, and it provides an extremely valuable and definitive study of Baroque Art both for the student and the general reader. The wonders that the author describes are confirmed by the plates with which the work is illustrated.

The subject of this book has so vast a complexity that two principles have been easy to satisfy: that the things discussed should be non-Italian, and that they should be remote from ordinary experience. Illustrated. Partial Contents: Visit of the Gypsies, A Castle and an Abbey; These Sad Ruins, At the Play; Life in the Dead Street; The Fair-Haired Victory; Monasteries.

A narrative of his time in Denmark, this work is largely concerned with the topography of the country, telling the intending visitor about all those features of the country's buildings, landscape and people which are most characteristic and best worth seeing. First published in 1956, this is a comprehensive study on Denmark, including the history and culture. To read a travel book by this author is to visit a country with a new pair of eyes.

In this book Mr. Sacheverell Sitwell, looking at the Netherlands through his own eyes rather than through those of his many predecessors, has produced a pic ture of the country which may appear un orthodox only because of its unfamiliarity. In his belief Holland, as a country, is as individual as Russia or as Spain, and there is a great deal more to be seen and enjoyed in it than the picture galleries, windmills, canals, flower markets and bare empty churches which seem to have impressed previous writers.It has been Mr. Sitwell's endeavour to get out of the museums and into the open-air-out of the museums and, likewise, away from the great cities (although not without having entered some of the old and forgotten patrician houses of The Hague and Amsterdam). In this way the author has discovered a new and beautiful Holland in which the architecture of the eighteenth century, the strange villages and costumes of Friesland, or the art of a Daniel Marot and a Cornelis Troost are taken as truly representative of this at once phlegmatic and poetical people and the man-made wonders of their largely artificial country. The result is a book both to awaken curiosity and, so far as a book may do so, to satisfy it-more especially as the very numerous photographs go side by side with the text and illustrate it at almost every point.If the traditionally pic turesque and quaint appear as seldom among these illustrations as they do in the text the intelligent reader is presented all the more with a picture of a country whose proximity and unfamiliarity will form added inducements to a visit.

'At the first mention of going to Roumania, a great many people, as I did myself, would take down their atlas and open the map. For Roumania, there can be no question, is among the lesser known lands of Europe.' So begins Sir Sacheverell Sitwell's account of his Roumanian journey, made in the 1930s, when Bucharest was still eight days overland from London. His four-week trip brings him into contact with longhaired gypsies at country fairs as well as the aristocracy in their medieval castles. The natural richness and variety of the landscape-from Transylvania to the Wallachian plains, the Carpathian peaks to the Danube Delta-delight him, as does the diversity of humanity he encounters, while his deep knowledge of European art and architecture makes him the ideal guide to the paintings, frescos, and buildings of Roumania. It is impossible, of course, to read of Roumania in the 1930s without thinking of what lay ahead for that country, but the abiding impression left by the book is of the freshness of Sitwell's perceptions and his unquenchable curiosity in everything he saw.