Charleston: A Bloomsbury House & Garden

More than one narrative voice in this intriguing book. Full of stories along with beautiful photos of the handmade objects and life the inhabitants lived. Arrived slowly but surely in perfect condition.

The essential book if you cannot visit the actual house or a great souvenir of a visit.

I love this book. The writings explain everything about the Bloomsbury set, and the photographs are outstanding, very interesting.

A beautiful book. Lots of interesting snippets of information about Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant, their friends and family written by Vanessa's son and grand-daughter. Even better, we are treated to glorious colour photos of various rooms and pieces of art work indidd the Charleston farmhouse which has been lovingly preserved and restored.. This book is an absolute joy, a wonderful addition to any collection of works by and about the Bloomsbury set, or indeed a visual feast for anyone who is at all interested in art and design.

Having just read a biography of Vanessa Bell I wanted so badly to see pictures of Charleston.and here they are! Even better than imagined......what a joy. Plus an extremely interesting text..It Is in ain all ways a splendid book

A book about a house set in the beautiful countryside of Sussex Down with a historical significance both in style and resonance of a past gone by. This book is an interesting read but it is more focussed on the historical and style equivalent of the Bloomsbury decorative style.This is mainly a coffee table book with lush photographs surrounded by text that gives a description and brief history. There are pages of text but this is really a book to place on your coffee table and thumb through, read a little and delight in to a history of a building that emotes historical significance. The book is well designed and layout and the text is not dry nor is it boring. The author has done considerable research and from the way it is put together, they have a considerable amount of love and adoration for their home and building.This must have been a huge undertaking and it is very impressive with the design. This book may not be for everyone but for the style conscious and history hounds out there, this may well be worth a read.

Bought this out of a personal interest in the Bloomsbury Group. I am also interested in interiors.This book more than exceeded my expectations. Text provided partly by someone who was there and partly from a family archive.

After reading Virginia Nicholson's book Among the Bohemians: Experiments in Living 1900-1939, I ordered this earlier work about Charleston, the country house in Sussex where Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell lived, and many other members of the Bloomsbury visited. The numerous large photos in this volume, showing all the rooms and the well-preserved decorations applied by Grant and Bell to just about every surface, add powerful visualisation to the prose and b/w images of the Bohemians book. The texts, started by Nicholson's father, Quentin Bell and then completed by her, gives a more personal perspective of Bloomsbury life than the other book. A perfect companion for all who enjoyed Among the Bohemians.

Very informative with lots of illustrations . Lovely quality

I am an enormous fan of all things and people Bloomsbury. The photos are lovely, text very good too. It makes you want to get in your car or take a train to visit again.And the Charleston Sussex countryside is a dream.

Belle immagini e testo interessante.

I love this book! I want to travel back in time and visit or live in Charleston Farmhouse, count the Bloomsbury Group among my friends, create or decorate everything in sight, linger in the gardens, and talk about fascinating things with the exceptional people who spent time there. This wonderful book is so evocative of time, place and people that it leads one to dream.The artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf’s sister) moved to Charleston in the Sussex Downs in 1916, during WWI, and their life there is the focus of this gorgeous book. There is the sense of an almost childlike exuberance in their original design and decoration of every possible surface in the house, including walls, textiles, furniture, ceramics, rugs, even lamps, and in the gardens the creation of ponds, fountains, pathways, private refuges, mosaics, sculpture, and color everywhere. Photographer Gavin Kingcome has supplied many stunning, intimate photographs, while Clive and Vanessa Bell’s younger son Quentin Bell, and his daughter Virginia Nicholson, who spent so much of their lives there, bring it to life with photos and stories of everyone who lived and visited there. Their memories are of intellectual, interpersonal and artistic pursuits coupled with much laughter and deep sadness, too. Many of the anecdotes reveal unexpected, funny or personal details which add to, or even change, one’s sense of who the individuals of the Bloomsbury Group really wereI highly recommend this book, even to those with no acquaintance with the Bloomsbury Group. It is a joy to experience. I am not artistic, but I told a friend the spirit of free expression I get from it makes me think I could be. I plan to own this book, so I can escape to Charleston and spend time with its residents over and over again.Thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing for a Digital ARC of this book, of which I give an honest review.

Excellent et très bel ouvrage sur la ferme de Charleston, siège du Bloomsbury group dans les années 30 suivantes. L'iconographie est très belle et les textes très intéressants dans la mesure où ils sont rédigés par le fils et la petite-fille de Vanessa Bell..