Drury, Paul and Richard Simpson — Hill Hall: A Singular House Devised by a Tudor Intellectual (2 Vols. )

London, The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2009. Hardcover. 2 vols. Green & persimmon & illus. glossy boards, matching glossy slipcase, 506 total pp.; BW illus.; second vol. is spiral bound with fold-outs of architectural plans; set weighs 7 lbs. A two-volume slipcased set that provides "the history of a house through eight centuries. Originating probably as a hunting lodge around 1200, it was transformed during the sixteenth century into the highly sophisticated house of the scholar, polymath and courtier, Sir Thomas Smith (1512-77), a man of humble origins but precocious intellect, who became Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge at the age of thirty before entering political life as Master of Requests to the Lord Protector Somerset.. Four centuries on, the house was first used as an open prison, then, in 1969, largely gutted by fire. Taken into the care of the Department of the Environment in 1980, archaeological excavation and investigation of the surviving fabric took place prior to the restoration of the house and its mural paintings. The results are now presented in this copiously illustrated account of one of the most interesting and singular houses to be built in Elizabethan England." (back cover of slipcase) Volume I is the narrative and illustrations. Volume II contains illustrations and architectural plans. An amazing set for both historians and architects. VG (One top corner of slipcase is well dinged; otherwise this set is immaculate.) .