Description

Based on the popular blog, magazine and Instagram account all of the same name, The Bible of British Taste explores what defines traditional British style and taste.

With a predilection for lived-in, even cluttered interiors, filled with antiques, artworks and paintings, this style rejects flawlesness in favour of character and personality; the lived-in and loved over the pristine and new. Ruth describes her approach as follows: 'My personal mantra for the descriptions of people and their houses in this book roughly seems to be that old stuff is good, and perfection is boring.'

In this book she charts the development of this distinctive style from the work of William Morris and the Bloomsbury circle up to the present. Included in the book are an eclectic mix of house and gardens scattered across the country and featuring a wide range of stylists, creatives and tastemakers, such as Roy Strong, David Gentleman, Rose Hilton, Mark Hearld, Jasper Conran, Luke Edward Hall, Ben Pentreath, Isabel Bannerman amongst many others.

Ruth Guilding has become the unofficial arbiter of the quirks and eccentricities of what makes British style and, with her unrivalled access to so many different homes, this book is the definitive guide to British taste.