Nancy Lancaster. Her Life, Her World, Her Art.
New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1996. Fourth printing. 8vo. xiv, 426, (2) pp. Publisher's grey cloth backed grey boards, silver lettering to the spine, dust jacket, inscribed by the author to the title page. Numerous black and white illustrations. Slight sunning to the jacket spine, inconspicuous tear to the foot of the lower panel, else very good. Nancy Lancaster (1897-1994) was an American socialite who settled in England in the 1920s after her marriage to the British politician Ronald Tree. Credited with having "the best taste of almost anyone in the world" she commissioned the redevelopment of several large properties in the Home Counties, bringing her into collaboration with the interior designers Colefax and Fowler. She is probably best known for the interior decoration of her post-War London residence in Mayfair and the house and gardens of Haseley Court in Oxfordshire, the latter prompting David Hicks to say she was "the most influential English gardener since Gertrude Jekyll". For many she is considered to be one of the creator's of the English Country House style. Item #40584
Price: £30.00