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Product Description
Product Description
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 one end or other of the old London 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'.
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'.
About the Author
Born in Bristol, Mike Rendell read Law at Southampton University. After graduation he joined a Bristol law firm where he was to launch the UK s first 24/7 conveyancing service. He contributed regular articles on conveyancing to legal journals and wrote a weekly legal advice column in the local press. He retired in 2003 and now lives with his second wife Philippa, primarily in Ashburton, and also Spain, where he tends his garden of olives, pomegranates and citrus fruits. He has two children by his first wife. He is currently woking on a novel set in Georgian England as well as on a collection of 'Letters from España', detailing the quirkiness of life in rural Spain.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Engaging, informative, amusing social history,
This review is from: The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729-1801 (Hardcover)
A solid debut by lawyer-turned-historian, Mike Rendell. The author has taken the copious diaries, lists and other ephemera of his ancestor and ordered them into an entertaining narrative which gives you a firm understanding of everyday life of a middle-class businessman on the up during the mid-Georgian period. Rendell succeeds wonderfully at teasing out the personality of his subject, Richard Hall, a God-fearing fellow much exercised by the weather, his own health and dozens of other topics, many trivial, some of great moment. One gets a clear sense of the cost of living, long distance coach travel, decorating one's home, quack medicine, servants and schooling, the precariousness of family life, and so on: social history at its best. The book is richly illustrated and has excellent appendices.The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729-1801
4.0 out of 5 stars
A much needed niche filler,
By
This review is from: The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729-1801 (Hardcover)
This book fills an empty niche in the understanding of the Georgian era; there are books on the underworld and books on the political history and books on the glittering society of court. This however is a very full journal of the doings of a fairly ordinary gentleman who had his ups and downs, who marvels at earthquakes and astronomical phenomena and who leaves us a detailed record of the weather, even if the detail that the chamber pot froze might be a little more information than we might have bargained for..... dealing with his manifold health problems with traditional cures, the little vicissitudes and too the joys of life give us an insight into Everyman of the time; how the political situation of the Seven Years War is only of interest in terms of the fact that the price of bread will rise for example. This is a wittily written and compassionate delving into Mr Rendell's ancestor's most private life, beautifully illustrated with both facsimiles of original documents and ephemera and the clever paper cut-outs of Richard Hall's daughter Patty. The two appendices are divided clearly and are well set out; this is a must have book for the student of the era.I witheld one star because I should have liked to have seen a couple of other appendices - one on the weather set out in a chart, and one on the price of everything written out on a chart. I am however very demanding! Written by Sarah, Simon's wife, recipient of the book
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Journal of a Georgan Gentleman,
This review is from: The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729-1801 (Hardcover)
A great insight into life as a gentleman in Georgian times. Taken from journals written in this era, this book is both informative and entertaining telling the reader not only about Richard Hall's daily life but also showing you a very personal and sometimes amusing account of it. Really well written and researched. An enjoyable book which is made easy to read by the good humored author and the lovely pictures thoroughout. Thoroughly recommend it.
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