Style

I stumbled upon this huge book a few years ago, and it was surprisingly cheap - about £1 per pound in fact.

It comprehensively covers period styles over about 500 years and was compiled by no less than 61 experts in their field. It is over 1,500 pages of text and illustration. It is a monster.

It covers architecture, furniture, costume, metalware, glassware, painting - pretty much everything that adorned the fashionable world over a very long period of time.

Ever wondered about the correct way to tie your neck scarf according to your station in life? Here's how.

 

Here is Ashdown House, near Lambourne. I worked on the stone of it once. I can tell you that it is made - in the main - of Totternhoe Clunch, a type of grey chalk which is primarily used to make Portland cement for concrete! How ironic. 

You used to be able to go into a charity shop and find volumes of Miller's Antique Guides before the internet took hold. They would have photographic examples of every type of antique to be found in Britain, together with an estimated value if sold at auction or privately. These were mainly of use to antique dealers and burglars. An observant policeman would enter a suspect's modest house and look out for a copy of Miller's incongruously sitting next to the owner's preferred reading material, and draw conclusions.

The trouble with the Miller's guides was that the prices fluctuated from year to year, so you had to buy the latest copy every 12 months, and they were not cheap.

My book does not concern itself with mere monetary value, which is just as well. You would not want 20 copies of this straining your shelf to breaking point.