House and Home in Georgian Ireland
Spaces and Cultures of Domestic Life
Conor Lucey, editor
“the book stokes the underbelly of grand facades and archetypal scenes of poverty to reveal the quotidian living habits across the period’s social spectrum ... The overlapping themes of basic human requirements, material culture, social mores, and the role of speculative development undulate through the chapters ... Collectively, the writers weave a rich tapestry that helps to illuminate the shadowy corners of our urban and rural domestic history.” Graham Hickey, Architecture Ireland, Vol. 329. 2023
“House and Home in Georgian Ireland is an absorbing compendium of ten essays on design and life in the long 18th century … the volume devotes much space to the homes of the wealthy merchant and Anglo-Irish landlord classes, for which rich archival and material evidence survives in handsome urban terraces and sumptuous country mansions ... most of the essays shine flashes of light on individual lives: Dean Swift, the great literary satirist, owned the first recorded silver decanter labels, as well as six china coffee cups.” Maev Kennedy, The ART Newspaper, January 2023
“A beautifully-produced book, House and Home in Georgian Ireland is an innovative collection of ten essays exploring the intersections of daily life and domestic design in Irish homes during the long eighteenth century … the collection as a whole is remarkably coherent, providing a thorough and original examination of the complex relationships between individuals and their homes in Ireland during this moment of profound social and political change, and referencing the broader historical themes of gender, power and class.” Hannah Cogan, Women's History Association of Ireland, March 2023.
"In this volume, cataloguing and describing have given way to interpreting and understanding, reflecting a new interest in how objects and buildings were used and how they acquired meaning through such use.[...] The overarching interest in this fascinating volume is not in documenting sterile boxes, but in examining how lived-in spaces worked." Peter Murray, Irish Arts Review, Spring 2023.
"An interesting collection of essays dealing with a number of aspects of domestic life from the 'long eighteenth century.'[...] A stimulating, different perspective on these familiar themes." Archaeology Ireland, Summer 2023.
"One of the pleasures of reading House and Home in Georgian Ireland is the richness of detail which each author of this collected volume commits to its pages. [...] Contained within the collection is a wealth of reflections and careful considerations of lives lived in Irish houses during the period.[...] A series of powerful impressions of intimate historical interiors." Helen McCormack Journal of Design History
