Acknowledgments

Harris, Eileen

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Acknowledgments

Eileen Harris

The Genius of Robert Adam: His Interiors

~The encouragement, advice and constructive criticism given me over the years by Professor Robin Middleton has been invaluable, not only in itself but also in setting a high standard which I have endeavoured to attain. I have also benefited from lengthy and stimulating dialogues with Ian Gow of the National Trust for Scotland and Nick Savage, Librarian of...

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Eileen Harris

PublisherPaul Mellon Centre

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-22368

Acknowledgments

The encouragement, advice and constructive criticism given me over the years by Professor Robin Middleton has been invaluable, not only in itself but also in setting a high standard which I have endeavoured to attain. I have also benefited from lengthy and stimulating dialogues with Ian Gow of the National Trust for Scotland and Nick Savage, Librarian of the Royal Academy, whom I frequently bombarded with difficult questions and who often posed others of equal import. Ptolemy Dean’s professional architectural training and enthusiastic interest in historic buildings opened my eyes to aspects of Adam’s work that might otherwise have escaped me.

A generous grant from the British Academy enabled me to make numerous visits to the surviving Adam houses I have written about and to archive offices up and down the country, from Edinburgh to Plymouth. The owners and custodians of these houses allowed me not only to examine their Adam rooms, but also to explore their basements, attics and roofs, to consult their archives and look at their drawings. I am grateful to Mr and Mrs Robin Compton, the Earl and Countess of Derby, Lady Victoria Fellowes, the Earl of Harewood, the Marquess of Lansdowne, the Duke of Northumberland, the Croome Estate Trust, Diageo (owners of 20 St James’s Square), International House (once Coventry House), the Portman Estate (former owners of 20 Portman Square) and Mr Brian Clivaz, managing director of Home House. The largest single owner of Adam houses is the National Trust: many members of its staff have helped me, none more than Anthea Palmer, Tim Knox and the late Gervase Jackson-Stops. I should also like to thank Ian Angus, Jill Banks, Hugo Brown, Alexandra Coldham, Edward Gibbons, Geoffrey Haworth, Simon Jervis, Francesca Scoones, Lyndon Williams and Barry Williams.

Frequent access to the Adam drawings at the Soane Museum was, of course, essential and I am very grateful to Margaret Richardson, Peter Thornton, Susan Palmer, Christopher Woodward and Stephen Astley for making that possible. The Victoria and Albert Museum was my other mine of information. The staff of the Furniture and Woodwork Department were always helpful and encouraging: Frances Collard, Sarah Medlam, Tessa Murdoch, Christopher Wilk and not least James Yorke who responded generously to my numerous requests. Likewise, I wish to acknowledge Susan Lambert and Michael Snodin in the Department of Prints and Drawings, and Martin Durant in the Photographic Library.

I had the benefit of the special knowledge of Mary Mauchinline on Harewood, Francis Russell on the Earl of Bute and Michael Moss on the Kennedys of Culzean. I am grateful to them and to others who helped in various ways: W. H. Adams, Amy Barker, Patrick Baty, Geoffrey Beard, Roger Bowdler, Ian Bristow, Geremy Butler, Jonathan Cardale, Charles Cator, Martin Charles, Sir Howard Colvin, William Connor, Jonathan Cook, John Cornforth, Camilla Costello, Dan Cruickshank, Joan Davidson, Alan Dodd, Anna Eavis, Sebastian Edwards, Lynda Fairbairn, Kate Fielden, Geoffrey Fisher, Desmond Fitzgerald, Oliver Fairclough, Joseph Friedman, Richard Gamier, Jane George, Christopher Gibbs, Mark Girouard, Sir Nicholas and Lady Goodison, Nicholas Grindley, Ruth Guilding, Michael Hall, Ivan Hall, John Hardy, Jonathan Harris, Richard Hewlings, Kathy Hiesinger, Angelo Hornak, Cathy Houghton, Morris Howard, Helen Hughes, Mrs Hutchins, Peter Inskip, Royston Jones, Frank Kelsall, David King, Hugh Krall, Emma Lauze, Peter Leach, Phillipa Lewis, Martin Levy, James Lomax, Nick McCann, Andrew McLean, Edward McParland, James Macauley, James Methuen Campbell, Lee Hunt Miller, Leila Meinertas, Jeremy Musson, Richard Pailthorpe, William Rieder, Hugh Roberts, Isla Roberts, John Martin Robinson, Alistair Rowan, Alan Rubin, Jonathan Scott, Jane Sellars, Mark Slade, Veronica Steele, Lady Shaw Stewart, Lanto Singe, Veronica Steele, Alan Tait, Jill Tovey, Alison Turton, Jane Waddington, Nigel Wilkins, John Wilton-Ely, Philip Winterbottom, Lucy Wood, and Giles Worsley.

It is owing to the dedication and enthusiasm of John Nicoll and Sally Salvesen of Yale University Press and the generous support of The Paul Mellon Centre for British Art and its Director of Studies, Brian Allen that my book is published. Furthermore, the publication program of the J. M. Kaplan Fund, awarded me a grant which enabled me to have several plans expertly redrawn by Christopher H. Woodward.

Finally, my warmest thanks to my husband John for his constant encouragement, advice and patience.

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