The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729-1801 - Hardcover

Mike Rendell

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1846245230 ISBN 13: 9781846245237

Publisher: Book Guild Limited, 2011

Synopsis

The historical value and interest of diaries is not so much in their accounts of great historical events but in their ability to convey the quality - the sights, smells and textures - of everyday life that would otherwise be lost to us. It is everyday life that abounds in the diaries of Richard Hall, a sometimes pious Baptist haberdasher who kept shop at Number OneLondon Bridge through much of the late eighteenth century. He recorded what he ate, what he purchased, how he slept and above all what the weather was like in near obsessive detail. He charts the hurly-burly of family life - he had two marriages and numerous children - his sometimes tumultuous relationship with his church, and his boundless curiousity about almost everything - from astronomy to the latest fashions.

His great-great-great-great grandson, Mike Rendell, has meticulously sifted through the rich treasure trove of Richard's papers to present us with an engaging portrait of a flawed but thoroughly likeable 'Georgian gentleman'. It isn't just diaries - it is the shopping lists, the packing lists, the accounts, all the ephemera of everyday life in Georgian England which he brings to life.

About this title

From the Author

Ever since I was a boy I knew that I wnated to write this book.It has taken half a century but for me the wait was worth it! I am most fortunate to have inherited not just the odd letter but boxes and boxes of journals letters diaires and ephemera written  by my ancestor. It only started to mean a lot to me when I experienced the same things as my ancestor - but from a distance of 250 years. We share the same problems of health (we are both gout sufferers!), second marriages and step children, business worries, and the pain and joy which comes with grandchildren. My ancestors problems were as real to him as mine are to me and I determined to write his life story as a social history - not just about him, but about his world. I find the 18th Century fascinating - which is why I blog on it most days!

Review

 "I loved the book's illustrations and its elegant colouring and lettering. This fine presentation is an example of a book being as good as its cover. Author Mike Rendell has done what many have dreamed of doing before him, he has traced his roots and made its history sing." (Brian Clough on eVue)

This is a must have book for the student of the era." ( Sarah Waldock, purchaser)

Mike Rendell's excellent book makes a noteworthy contribution to building the picture of Georgian middle-class merchant domesticity." (Mike Paterson of London Historians)

Edition details

• Publisher: Book Guild Limited
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1846245230
• ISBN 13: 9781846245237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272