STRONG, Roy; Marcus BINNEY and John HARRIS ~ The Destruction of the Country House 1875-1975. Inscribed by Strong.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Thames and Hudson, London: [1974].

Large 8vo., brown cloth lettered in gilt to spine with publisher's device in gilt embossed to upper cover; together in the unclipped photographic dustwrapper (£4.95 net) featuring Halnaby Hall in Yorkshire before and in the process of demolition; and The Hook in Hampshire, shortly after the 1908 fire; proliferated throughout with 383 black and white photographs; THE BOOK with faint offsetting to the endleaves, else essentially a fine copy; THE WRAPPER with some minor creasing and rubbing to edges, else near-fine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, first printing. This copy inscribed by Roy Strong to the first page of his introduction (entitled 'The Country House Dilemma') with the pertinent quote "Written in hope... May 16th 1975." A work on the loss of English country houses, with twenty-five contributions from architects, historians, owners and experts in conservation. Tracing the destruction of 300 such houses over the period of one hundred years between 1875 and 1975, the work discusses the additional loss of estate grounds, including great parks and the dispersal of art, library and furniture collections. The final section discusses possible solutions to the problem, which include legal sanctions and Government aid, as well as the importance of the National Trust. The front cover shows Halnaby Hall in Yorkshire, where Lord Byron spent his honeymoon, in 1933 and at the point of its demolition in 1952. Roy Strong is an English art historian and museum curator who was appointed as assistant keeper of the National Portrait Gallery in London in 1959, and became its Director in 1967, a post which he held until 1973, when he went on to become the youngest director of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The present title was derived directly from an exhibition held at the V&A in 1974, which included a 'Hall of Destruction', decorated with falling columns and pictures of many of the country houses which had been demolished since 1875. It was Strong's belief that drawing public attention to the impact of these demolitions (caused, in part, by rising costs, lack of funding, and government requisitioning during the Second World War), would bring about greater awareness, and encourage protection for the houses which remained. The landmark exhibition led to the founding, the following year, of 'Save Britain's Heritage', and two further related exhibitions followed; 'Change and Decay: The Future of our Churches' in 1977, and 'The Garden: A Celebration of a Thousand Years of British Gardening' in 1979. Contributors here include James Lees-Milne, Marcus Binney, the Duke of Bedford, the Marquess of Hertford, George Howard, and many others. "What we give in this book is a tract for the times", Strong writes, "I have felt deeply that we should gather together the viewpoint from within as well as from without; that is, the experiences of those who actually struggle to live in a great house in addition to those of various experts, whether on the building, the gardens, the picture collection or the libraries... one is not concerned with the past, with a nostalgic looking back to a golden age gone for ever, but with the present and the future." A very scarce title in this casebound format.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Fine
JACKET: Near Fine