The Big House : The Story of a Country House and Its Family

The highly praised biography of an archetypal great house and the family who lived there for over 250 years. 'The Big House' is the biography of a great country house and the lives of the Sykes family who lived there, with varying fates, for the next two hundred and fifty years. It is a fascinating social history set against the backdrop of a changing England, with a highly individual, pugnacious and self-determining cast, including: 'Old Tat' Sykes, said to be one of the great sights of Yorkshire (the author's great-great-great-grandfather), who wore 18th-century dress to the day of his death at ninety-one in 1861. His son was similarly eccentric, wearing eight coats that he discarded gradually throughout the day in order to keep his body temperature at a constant. He was forced to marry, aged forty-eight, eighteen-year-old Jessica Cavendish-Bentick -- a lively and highly intelligent woman who relieved the boredom of her marriage by acquiring a string of lovers, writing novels and throwing extravagant parties (her nickname became 'Lady Satin Tights'), all the while accumulating debts that ended in a scandalous court case. Their son, Mark, died suddenly whilst brokering the peace settlement at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of World War I; Sledmere was destroyed by fire shortly afterwards. But the rebuilt Sledmere rose from the flames to resound again with colourful, brilliant characters in the 1920s and 1930s including the author's grandmother, Lily, who had been a celebrated bohemian in Paris. 'The Big House' is vividly written and meticulously researched using the Sykes' own family's papers and photographs. In this splendid biography of place and time, Christopher Simon Sykes has resuscitated the lives of his ancestors and their glorious home from the 18th- through to the 20th-century.

History

Christopher Simon Sykes

Europe

Harpercollins Pb

The Man Who Created the Middle East: A Story of Empire, Conflict and the Sykes-Picot Agreement

At the age of only 36, Sir Mark Sykes was signatory to the Sykes-Picot agreement, one of the most reviled treaties of modern times. A century later, Christopher Sykes' lively biography of his grandfather reassesses his life and work, and the political instability and violence in the Middle East attributed to it. The Sykes-Picot agreement was drawn by the eponymous British and French diplomats in 1916 to determine the divide of the collapsing empire in the event of an allied victory in World War I. Excluding Arab involvement, it negated their earlier guarantee of independence made by the British - and controversy has raged around it ever since. But who was Mark Sykes? A century on, Christopher Simon Sykes reveals new facets of a misremembered diplomatic giant. Using previously undisclosed family letters and cartoons by his grandfather, he delivers a comprehensive and humbling account of the man behind one of the most impactful policies in the Middle East.

William Collins

Drawing on exclusive and unprecedented access to David Hockney’s extensive archives, notebooks, and paintings, interviews with family, friends, and on Hockney himself, Christopher Simon Sykes provides a colorful and intimate portrait of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. Born in 1937, David Hockney grew up in a northern English town during the days of postwar austerity. By the time he was ten years old he knew he wanted to be an artist, and after leaving school he went on to study at Bradford Art College and later at the Royal College of Art in London. Bursting onto the scene at the Young Contemporaries exhibition, Hockney was quickly heralded as the golden boy of postwar British art and a leading proponent of pop art. It was during the swinging 60s in London that he befriended many of the seminal cultural figures of the generation and throughout these years Hockney's career grew. Always absorbed in his work, he drew, painted and etched for long hours each day, but it was a scholarship that led him to California, where he painted his iconic series of swimming pools. Since then, the most prestigious galleries across the world have devoted countless shows to his extraordinary work. In the seventies he expanded his range of projects, including set and costume design for operas and experiments with photography, lithography, and even photocopying. Most recently he has been at the forefront the art world's digital revolution, producing incredible sketches on his iPhone and iPad, and it is this progressive thinking which has highlighted his genius, vigor and versatility as an artist approaching his 75th birthday. In this, the first volume of Hockney’s biography, detailing his life and work from 1937 - 1975, Sykes explores the fascinating world of the beloved and controversial artist whose career has spanned and epitomized the art movements of the last five decades. "The timing couldn't be better for this enjoyable and well-sourced book, which — like Hockney's own work — is both conversational and perceptive." —Los Angeles Times "To read Christopher Simon Sykes' David Hockney is to marvel at the artistic gifts of the eccentric Yorkshireman who rose from a sometimes pinched childhood to hobnob with poet Stephen Spender and novelist Christopher Isherwood, to party with Mick Jagger and Manolo Blahnik." —The Plain Dealer "Prodigiously entertaining." —Financial Times “A chatty, knowledgeable, insider's biography, full of anecdotes.” —The Guardian

David Hockney: The Biography, 1937-1975

Arts & Photography

Nan A. Talese

Surveys a score of American and English gardens representing a variety of layouts and designs to give ideas or creating pleasant, unique vistas and views in any sized garden

Private Landscapes: Creating Form, Vistas, and Mystery in the Garden (includes 400 full-color photographes)

Crafts, Hobbies & Home

Caroline Seebohm

Gardening & Landscape Design

Clarkson/Potter

The first book on Scotland to capture not only the beauty of its spectacular landscape and architecture but also to tell about the history, traditions, and culture from the perspective of a witty, knowledgeable insider. Through lush gardens, sweeping landscapes, and 15 of Scotland's less well known houses, Scottish Country reveals an identifiably Scottish style. Illustrations.

Scottish Country

Travel

Charles MacLean

Caroline Seebohm conducts a guided tour of England's country houses, to reveal the beauty, graciousness, and idiosyncracies of rural English life. 350 full-color photographs.

English Country: A Little Style Book

Home Improvement & Design

Three Rivers Press

Ancient English Houses 1240 - 1612

Ancient English Houses 1240 - 1612

Architecture

Chatto&Windus

ANCIENT ENGLISH HOUSES

Chatto and Windus

Quarto, Burgundy Cloth, 1980, PP.224, Numerous B &amp; W Photographs, 100 Years Of The British Upper Class

The Golden Age of the Country House

Mayflower Books

BRAND NEW, Exactly same ISBN as listed, Please double check ISBN carefully before ordering.

Hockney: The Biography Volume 1

Random House Australia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Christopher Simon Sykes. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Christopher Simon Sykes

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Christopher Simon Sykes. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Big House : The Story of a Country House and Its Family

The Man Who Created the Middle East: A Story of Empire, Conflict and the Sykes-Picot Agreement

David Hockney: The Biography, 1937-1975

Private Landscapes: Creating Form, Vistas, and Mystery in the Garden (includes 400 full-color photographes)

Scottish Country

English Country: A Little Style Book

Ancient English Houses 1240 - 1612

ANCIENT ENGLISH HOUSES

The Golden Age of the Country House

Hockney: The Biography Volume 1