Born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, architect John Soane RA died in 1837 after a long and distinguished career. He designed 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields as his home and as a setting for his antiquities and works of art. After his wife's death he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. He established the house as a museum by Act of Parliament (1833) requiring that his romantic and poetic interiors be kept as they were at the time of his death.
Working in the Museum in Sir John Soane's houses, Susan Palmer became intrigued by questions about how the Soane family lived there two centuries ago. What did they eat? What did they drink? How did they keep warm? What was their social life like? What were their servants' daily duties? In the course of many years of research she came up with the answers to these questions and many more.
At Home with the Soanes tells the story of the Soane family's social and domestic life. It paints a vivid picture of the Soanes' house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, their family life with their two children, and the below-stairs relationships of their servants. First published by Sir John Soane's Museum in 1997, this Pimpernel edition has been revised by the author and includes many previously unpublished illustrations.
