English Style ESSENTIAL BOOKSHELF
THE COUNTRY HOUSE PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE by David Cannadine and Jeremy Musson (Rizzoli 2018) Large-format book on great British houses (includes Scotland and Ireland), with commentary on interior style evolution in the past 40 years.
SECRET HOUSES OF THE COTSWOLDS by Jeremy Musson (Francis Lincoln 2018) “Privileged access to 20 houses, from castles to manors and 19th-century mansions.” Photographs chronicle English interiors.
PERFECT ENGLISH TOWNHOUSE by Ros Byam Shaw (Ryland Peters & Small 2018) In-depth house tours in traditional townhouses, most with layered interiors.
ENGLISH HOUSES: Inspirational Interiors from City Apartments to Country Manor Houses
by Ben Pentreath (Ryland Peters & Small 2016) Visits to 12 very different homes ranging from a 16th-century stone manor to a 1930s pied-a-terre, in city and country, all with richly layered rooms.
STONE HOUSES OF THE ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE by Nicholas Mander (Rizzoli Classics 2016) Learned commentary with photos 1900–2007, many in black & white, from Country Life magazine, chronicling over 50 Cotswold houses medieval through Arts & Crafts period.
THE DRAWING ROOM: English Country House Decoration by Jeremy Musson (Rizzoli 2014) The more formal, historic English rooms including work by Lancaster, Fowler, Hicks.
THE ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE by James Peill (Vendome Press 2013) In-depth look at 10 houses still in the hands of the original owners. A feast.
ENGLISH DECORATION: Timeless Inspiration for the Contemporary Home by Ben Pentreath (Ryland Peters & Small 2012) Informal, not “decorated,” evolved interiors classic to eccentric.
ENGLISH COUNTRY HOUSE INTERIORS by Jeremy Musson (Rizzoli 2011) Detailed exploration of 15 houses Jacobean to Palladian to Victorian Gothic; up close on painting and plaster, furniture, textiles. Included: 20th century interior designers; archival photos from Country Life.
NANCY LANCASTER: English Country House Style by Martin Wood (Frances Lincoln 2005) Offering biography, decorating, and history “that brings characters to life,” the book also has beautiful photos of Lancaster’s own homes and gardens.
THE ENGLISH ROOM by Chippy Irvine (Bulfinch 2001) Town and country houses of different periods, all in England, with capsule decorative-arts and furniture history. Photos are not “prettified.”