The value of inventories in charting how houses were arranged, furnished and used is now widely appreciated. Typically, the listings and valuations were occasioned by the death of an owner and the consequent need to deal with testamentary dispositions. That was not always so. The inventory for Castlecomer House, Co. Kilkenny, for example, was drawn up to make a claim following the house's devastation in the 1798 uprising. Mostly hitherto unpublished, the inventories chosen give new-found insights into the lifestyle and taste of some of the foremost families of the day. Above stairs, the inventories show the evolving collecting habits and tastes of eighteenth-century patrons across Ireland and how the interiors of great town and country houses were arranged or responded to new materials and new ideas. The meticulous recording of the contents of the kitchen and scullery likewise sheds light on life below stairs. Itemized equipment required for the brewhouse, dairy, stables, garden and farmyard reflects the at times significant scale of the communities the houses supported and the remarkable degree of self-sufficiency at some of the demesnes. A comprehensive index facilitates access to the myriad items forming the inventories, while the books listed at three of the houses are tentatively identified in separate appendices. A foreword together with short preambles to the inventories set the households in their historical context. Illustrated with contemporary engravings of the houses and with portraits of the owners of the time, the inventories will appeal to country-house visitors, historians of interiors, patronage, collecting and material culture as well as to scholars, curators, collectors, creative designers, film directors, bibliographers, lexicographers and novelists. The eighteenth century is the period onto which the Knight of Glin directed his penetrating gaze as art historian. The book is dedicated to his memory.

Edmund Joyce Smith is a man who wears many hats, often superimposed upon one another, to comic effect. His work by day is as a clinical social worker with children and their families in Hartford. He also enjoys working as a domestic violence prevention counselor. When he isn't doing these jobs, his energies are devoted to friends, family, and creative pursuits. Writer, musician, madcap folk artist, Mr. Smith's passions inscribe a whirl of activity, out of which has now come, " Lastly, I Wish to Mention," and plans for multiple books and musical releases that are in the works. The guiding principle that informs his unique approach to the arts he summarizes thus: "Each of life's broken pieces have the character of stained glass, through which our radiances show themselves." If you would like to contact Mr. Smith regarding his work or to propose creative projects on your own behalf, he can be reached at [email protected]. You may also look for his growing corpus of material on Tumblr and his own Amazon Web Page.