Life in Brighton

‘Mr Musgrave’s book does full justice to Brighton’s quality and complexity, with a breadth of interest and erudition thoroughly worthy of its subject.’ The Times

‘I have so much enjoyed your book Life in Brighton and it has opened so many new points of interest for me in a city I thought I knew well.’ Graham Greene

Brilliantly researched and written, this is the definitive history of the city of Brighton. Divided into five sections – Fishermen and Farmers, Princes and Palaces, Late Georgian, Victorian Marvels and Mysteries, Battle Scene and Transformation – it shows how Brighton grew from a small fishing village. For almost thirty years Clifford Musgrave was the director of the Royal Pavilion, the Brighton Library, Art Gallery and Museum. In 1962 Faber and Faber commissioned him to write a comprehensive history of the town. It was published in 1970 to much acclaim.

This new edition, published forty years after the original publication, includes a double introduction by the late Clifford Musgrave’s son, Stephen Musgrave, and the editor of Victoria County History for Brighton and author of Georgian Brighton, Sue Berry. Two letters from Graham Greene to the author are also featured.

CLIFFORD MUSGRAVE was the director of the Royal Pavilion for over thirty years. He initiated and led the post-war restoration of the Pavilion, for which he was awarded the OBE in 1963. He was the author of many books and articles on Georgian and Regency furniture and architectural design, and he was given an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Sussex in 1968. Still a well-known name in the town, there is a bus named after him.