Brooks's 1764–2014: The Story of a Whig Club
One of the many aspects of London that never failed to attract comment from foreign visitors in the late 18th and early nineteenth 19th was the Clubland that sprouted along Pall Mall and St James’s. Paris and Vienna had nothing like it. From its foundation in 1764, Brooks’s was accepted as one of the most important manifestations of this new form of London living. From its inception, its membership drew on some of England’s wealthiest and most influential families. From its inception, too, the Club had a distinct political flavour. Although Brooks’s was never exclusively Whig, or later Foxite, anyone with a predilection for those political brands would certainly have felt at home there.
To celebrate Brooks’s 250th anniversary, this beautiful commemorative volume looks afresh at some historical aspects and the architecture of the club, and presents much original research, including essays on the club’s archives – among the most complete in Clubland – and an illustrated catalogue of the important collection of paintings, drawings, sculpture and prints, including the pictures on loan from the Society of Dilettanti.
Edited by Charles Sebag-Montefiore and Joe Mordaun
Hardback, 200 pages
280 x 240 mm, 100 colour illustrations
ISBN: 978 1 907372 61 2In the press
"Indeed, in amongst the essays which are probably aimed at Brooks's members, including detailed detailed discussion of the history of its wine consumption by Hugh Johnson, an unexpectedly detailed account by Thomas Henage of what vegetables were eaten in the late 18th century, ..., there is plenty to interest a wider readership." —The Spectator
"With chapters on food, on gambling (with extracts from the betting book), on Brooks's architecture and decor, and a fully illustrated catalogue of the club's art collection, this is not just a book for nostalgic club members, but one that opens a window into the fast and furious lives of the ruling classes of Georgian, Regency and early Victorian England." —Salon