Touring and Publicizing England's Country Houses in the Long Eighteenth Century

Jocelyn Anderson has worked in the Learning Department at Tate Britain and taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Birkbeck, and the University of East Anglia in the UK. She holds a PhD and MA in Art History from the Courtauld and a BA from McGill University, Canada. Anderson’s research explores art in Britain, Canada, and across the British Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. She is the author of Touring and Publicizing England’s Country Houses in the Long Eighteenth Century (2018) and William Brymner: Life and Work (2020).

• List of PlatesList of FiguresList of TablesAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: ‘Come Here for Entertainment and Instruction’: Country Houses Exhibited to the Public1. ‘For the Numerous Strangers Who Visit’: Tourists’ Itineraries and Practices2. ‘A Sumptuous Pile of Building’: Remaking the Sights and Spaces of the House3. ‘Eminent in Public Estimation’: The Transformation of Country Houses’ Paintings and Sculptures4. ‘A Degree of Taste and Elegance’: Commenting on Country Houses’ Interiors5. ‘The Beauties of Nature’: Descriptions of Country-House Gardens and ParksConclusion: ‘The Visitor of Today’: Legacies of 18th-Century Country-House TourismAppendix: Country-house GuidebooksBibliographyIndex

For anyone who has ever wondered how Chatsworth, Pemberley, or Downton Abbey could belong so emphatically to the public—how English country houses (both real and imagined) have, as cultural treasures, come to be possessed by the nation—this book is essential reading. With an extraordinary range of primary sources, Anderson engagingly demonstrates the importance of English country houses as crucial tourist destinations in the 18th century, underscoring the importance of these houses for all sorts of things: not only the history of country house architecture, but also ‘heritage’ more broadly, collections generally, art collections in particular, and—perhaps most importantly—British conceptions of elite property as extending into the public realm of ownership. It is an immensely satisfying account of a fascinating story.