Secrets of the National Trust

Little secrets and details from National Trust places

[secretsofthent]

Detail of a light fixture, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Detail of an egg collecting box, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Roof void above the Grand Hall, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Details from the Chinoiserie wallpaper, Lower India Room, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Detail of Chinoiserie cabinet, Lower India Room, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Light fixture, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Stars on the ceiling of the Drawing Room, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Ebonised wooden decoration, Ebony Room, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Stonework detail, Grand Staircase, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

William Morris wallpaper, Penrhyn Castle, 2020.

[secretsofthent]

Grand Staircase roof, Penrhyn Castle, 2020

[secretsofthent]

You don't sound very confident in the abilities of your readers...

Attingham Park, 2020.

[thomas-lawrence-art]

Henrietta Maria Hill, Marchioness of Ailesbury, 1809, Thomas Lawrence

[secretsofthent]

Attingham Park.

[secretsofthent]

Decorated letter compilation from National Trust books.

Primarily, but not exclusively woodcut. The very fine elaborate ones are probably etchings. All from early modern books.

[secretsofthent]

Marginalia in National Trust books, several different properties.

Sometimes this is the best part of a book.

[secretsofthent]

Details of a book binding, Attingham Park, 2020.

This is a rather interesting book binding. It's a piece of vellum, folded in half and stab-stitched in four places. Very quick, very cheap, good way to protect the book if you don't want to bind it. Book was printed in 1700.

The vellum is the interesting part. It used to be something quite different, and that leaps out at you as soon as you open the book. There is handwriting all over it. It's secretary hand, popular in the early early-modern period, or medieval. The vellum has been reused from an earlier manuscript, which is not uncommon in printer's workshops. It's in fantastic condition.

[secretsofthent]

Marbling in National Trust books.

Marbled end papers and half-covers are most common in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, though the practice continued through the Victorian period, when mock-marbling became common in mass produced bindings. All of the pictures above, however, are original long eighteenth century hand crafted marbling. They are a mixture of oil size and alum size, however.

Creating a cohesive and repetitive pattern is surprisingly difficult and requires a lot of skill.

Images culled from a number of properties.