The Irish country house : a social history / Peter Somerville-Large ; specially commissioned photographs by Mark Fiennes

London : Sinclair-Stevenson, 1995. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dust-wrapper. Particularly and surprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. Physical description; [16], 384 p., [32] p. of plates : ill. (some col.) ; 26 cm. Notes; Includes bibliography: p. 367-373. - and index. Summary; For 700 years the Ascendancy dominated Ireland: landlords built their great houses, landscaped their parks and spent wealth gathered from rents, before disappearing in the 20th century. Making use of letters, diaries, memoirs, estate documents, inventories, travellers' tales and family reminiscences, Peter Somerville-Large examines the lifestyle of the so-called ""rural sovereigns"", describing the elegance, discomfort, and danger associated with castle and mansion, and the lives of many famous figures who created or inhabited the great houses. Subjects; Country life - Ireland - History. Nobility - Ireland - History. Country homes - Ireland. Ireland - Social life and customs. Country homes - Ireland - History. Ireland - Social life and customs. Ireland - History. Country houses - Social life - History. Ireland. Northern Ireland. Country houses - British Isles - Ireland. Nobility - British Isles - Ireland. Ireland - History - Social. Social & cultural history ; British & Irish history. History / Europe / Ireland. Country houses : Ireland ; Houses : Social history : Ireland ; Ireland : social history. Genre; Illustrated.