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Victorian Turkish Baths
Malcolm R. Shifrin
€ 129.70
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Description for Victorian Turkish Baths
Hardcover. The first book to reveal the hidden history and explore the architecture, technology and sociology of the Victorian Turkish Bath in the British Isles and beyond. With almost 500 illustrations, a full bibliography, and an illustrated glossary, the book examines all aspects of the baths. Num Pages: 384 pages, 450. BIC Classification: 1DBKE; 3JH; AMG. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 287 x 231 x 29. Weight in Grams: 1690.
Victorian Turkish Baths is the first book to bring to light the hidden history of a fascinating institution - the 600-plus dry hot air baths that sprang up across Ireland, Britain and beyond, in the 19th century. Malcolm Shifrin traces the bath's Irish-Roman antecedents, looking at how its origins were influenced by the combination of physician Richard Barter's hydropathic expertise, and idiosyncratic diplomat David Urquhart's passion for the hammams of the Middle East. The book reveals how working-class members of a network of political pressure groups built more than 30 of the first Turkish baths in England. It explores the architecture, technology and sociology of the Victorian Turkish bath, examining everything from business and advertising to sex-real and imagined. This book offers a wealth of wondrous detail - from the baths used to treat sick horses to those for first-class passengers on the Titanic. Victorian Turkish Baths will appeal to those interested in Victorian social history, architecture, social attitudes to leisure, early public health campaigns, pressure groups, gendered spaces and much else besides. The book is complemented by the author's widely respected website victorianturkishbath.org, where readers can find a treasure trove of further information.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2016
Publisher
Historic England
Condition
New
Number of Pages
384
Place of Publication
Swindon, United Kingdom
ISBN
9781848022300
SKU
V9781848022300
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 7 to 11 working days
Ref
99-23
About Malcolm R. Shifrin
Malcolm Shifrin is a former librarian and has written extensively on the fascinating history and sociology of the bath.
Reviews for Victorian Turkish Baths
Retired librarian, Malcolm Shifrin has here produced a book that is unrivalled in most of its architectural insights and social understanding. It's a really good read ...
Newsletter, Winter-Spring 2016 (01/2016)
... Malcolm's coverage of the subject is comprehensive ...
Graham Hudson
The Ephemerist 172, Spring 2016
Malcolm Shifrin's Victorian Turkish Baths, an absorbing, scholarly and generously illustrated book, is also an elegy for an almost vanished piece of our social history and architectural heritage.
Peter Parker
RIBA Friends of Architecture, April 2016
... his book is so appealing to the eye and so full of fascinating information that those with a more general interest in the Victorian period, or even the simply curious, will also find it a pleasure to read.
Jaqueline Banerjee
The Victorian Web, Cercles
Given his acknowledged expertise on the subject of Turkish Baths, ... it is no surprise that Malcolm Shifrin has produced an excellent text ...
Dave Day
Social History
Malcolm Shifrin's magisterial and frequently surprising book charts the rise and fall of the Victorian Turkish bath movement ... Only a handful of Turkish baths survive in their original form and use. A whole world has been lost, but Malcolm Shifrin is to be commended for bringing it back to vivid life.
Michael Scammell, South Downs National Park Authority
IHBC, Context 144: May 2016
... a major act of historical recovery; it is also a true labour of love ... a sumptuous and delightful book, a tribute to Historic England who produced the volume ... Alas, very few Turkish baths remain today. Shifrin is the pre-eminent historian and archaeologist of this phenomenon. The Turkish bath endures at least through his pages.
Rohan McWilliam
Journal of Victorian Culture
... the amount of information about the buildings and the processes within them is remarkable, the bibliography is extensive, and the glossary and four separate indices for people, places, users, and subjects are helpful.
Timothy Brittain-Catlin
Landscape History, Vol 37, Issue 2, 2016
Shifrin is very thorough in his examination of the economics and personalities of the Turkish Bath business, but it is in his appreciation of the architecture of these baths that he excels ... It is one of the many virtues of this study that so many delightful photographs are provided ... Shifrin leave no stone unturned in his examination of all available sources, literary and archival.
Alistair J. Durie, University of Stirling
Industrial Archaeology Review, 38, 2, 146-147, November 2016
Newsletter, Winter-Spring 2016 (01/2016)
... Malcolm's coverage of the subject is comprehensive ...
Graham Hudson
The Ephemerist 172, Spring 2016
Malcolm Shifrin's Victorian Turkish Baths, an absorbing, scholarly and generously illustrated book, is also an elegy for an almost vanished piece of our social history and architectural heritage.
Peter Parker
RIBA Friends of Architecture, April 2016
... his book is so appealing to the eye and so full of fascinating information that those with a more general interest in the Victorian period, or even the simply curious, will also find it a pleasure to read.
Jaqueline Banerjee
The Victorian Web, Cercles
Given his acknowledged expertise on the subject of Turkish Baths, ... it is no surprise that Malcolm Shifrin has produced an excellent text ...
Dave Day
Social History
Malcolm Shifrin's magisterial and frequently surprising book charts the rise and fall of the Victorian Turkish bath movement ... Only a handful of Turkish baths survive in their original form and use. A whole world has been lost, but Malcolm Shifrin is to be commended for bringing it back to vivid life.
Michael Scammell, South Downs National Park Authority
IHBC, Context 144: May 2016
... a major act of historical recovery; it is also a true labour of love ... a sumptuous and delightful book, a tribute to Historic England who produced the volume ... Alas, very few Turkish baths remain today. Shifrin is the pre-eminent historian and archaeologist of this phenomenon. The Turkish bath endures at least through his pages.
Rohan McWilliam
Journal of Victorian Culture
... the amount of information about the buildings and the processes within them is remarkable, the bibliography is extensive, and the glossary and four separate indices for people, places, users, and subjects are helpful.
Timothy Brittain-Catlin
Landscape History, Vol 37, Issue 2, 2016
Shifrin is very thorough in his examination of the economics and personalities of the Turkish Bath business, but it is in his appreciation of the architecture of these baths that he excels ... It is one of the many virtues of this study that so many delightful photographs are provided ... Shifrin leave no stone unturned in his examination of all available sources, literary and archival.
Alistair J. Durie, University of Stirling
Industrial Archaeology Review, 38, 2, 146-147, November 2016