|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
Queen Mary's Dolls' House
|
|
(Windsor Castle) A miniature miracle which was presented in 1924 to Queen Mary, the wife of George V. The house itself was designed by Lutyens and the garden by Gertrude Jekyll. All the exquisitely detailed contents were made by craftsmen or firms specializing in the full-scale equivalents. Everything is on a scale of an inch to a foot, so the taps in the bathrooms, the tennis rackets and golf clubs in the games cupboard, the wine bottles in the cellar or the cars in the garage are all one-twelfth of life size.
|
|
|
|
Famous artists provided tiny drawings and prints for the cabinet in the library, and famous authors wrote miniature books to be minutely bound in leather. Conceived as a present from the nation to the queen (an avid collector) after the trauma of World War I, the dolls' house was ready in time to be a centre of attention at the British Empire Exhibition at *Wembley in 1924.
|
|
|
|