Dr. Johnson's Doorknob: And Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses

商家名称	信用等级	购买信息	订购本书
		Dr. Johnson's Doorknob: And Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses
		Dr. Johnson's Doorknob: And Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses

基本信息·出版社：Rizzoli
·页码：208 页
·出版日期：2007年09月
·ISBN：0847829707
·条形码：9780847829705
·装帧：精装
·开本：208
·正文语种：英语

内容简介 Behind every great man are his objects and daily possessions, defined as much by the minutiae of domesticity as by the great works of the man himself. Dr. Johnson’s Doorknob, inspired by Liz Workman’s National Heritage Revisited series published in England in 2002, is a situationist’s catalog of overlooked and highly amusing personal objects from the most famous households in history. From the mantelpieces in the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt to the crockery in Washington Irving’s Sunnyside home and the banisters in the William Morris Gallery, Workman peeked over the velvet ropes and turned an ironic eye on some of the most important historic homes in England and America. Each of the nine chapters in this charming, slipcased package is an anthology in itself, a collection of photographs that celebrate the unsung features of “great” men’s homes: there are door handles and banisters from the hallways of Charles Dickens and Jules Verne; the ashtray that held Freud’s cigarette butts; and chairs sat on by Thomas Carlyle, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Jefferson. From her photos of Washington’s four-poster to John Keats’s desk chair and Winston Churchill’s floral prints, Dr. Johnson’s Doorknob breathes new life into the inhabitants of these homes.
作者简介 Liz Workman is an artist whose work combines a love of the domestic with a reverence for history. She has worked for various art organizations, including the Tate and Art Fund Quarterly. She is the author of several books, including National Heritage Revisited, The Dining Room, and most recently Kitchen Cupboards. She lives in London.
专业书评 This follows the 91/3 New York Times House & Home section feature, October House & Garden, and an upcoming feature in the Washington Post Style section.
"Dr. Johnson's Doorknob and Other Significant Parts of Great Men's Houses" by Liz Workman (Rizzoli New York, 2007, $25). This elegant little book of Liz Workman's photographs doesn't stop at doorknobs. It shows us other unexpected details from eminent homes -- George Washington's mantelpiece, for example, Charles Darwin's soup tureen and Sigmund Freud's mirror. In its modest size and scope, it contrasts nicely with those weighty coffee-table volumes that thud down with rafter-to-cellar accounts of castles, palaces and stately homes. Workman doesn't provide text, just brief captions and an index of addresses. Asked in an exchange of e-mails how the book came about, she said that after visiting houses once owned by great men she realized she'd begun to see on display similar items belonging to the notable owner -- "there always seemed to be a chair, a collection of books, a mantelpiece." This intrigued her, she said. She went off to visit more houses and specifically looked for more of such categories. They eventually made up the book's 10 chapters: doorknobs, crockery, mantelpieces, chairs, desks, books, banisters, mirrors, skirting boards and beds. Asked for a personal favorite, she said it would be tough to choose, "but I have always liked the skirting boards as they are more obscure, particularly Victor Hugo's. I am also very fond of some of the chairs, Churchill's and Poe's. I like Jefferson's bed as it is so unusual, and Washington's mantelpiece as it is such a vivid color." The book has a foreword by feminist Germaine Greer, who sharply points out that unnamed women actually ran the houses now cherished as shrines of famous men. She also comments that writing a book about things that are notable only by association with a historic person is somewhat akin to the tradition of venerating relics of saints. The 103 items in the book are shown in full-page color photographs and the book is stylishly slipcased, looking quite ready to be placed in a significant home. Perhaps even that of a great woman.

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