In this episode, we get up close and personal with Horace Walpole: prime minister’s son, writer, and patron of the arts.
Georgia first discusses a book of poetry printed at Walpole’s Strawberry Hill Press before taking us inside the walls of the house itself, a gothic masterpiece on the banks of the river Thames on the outskirts of London.
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Thomas Gray’s book of poetry Odes was the first book printed at the Strawberry Hill press. If you look closely, you can see the house in the background of the title page illustration.
After Walpole’s death, his friend Mary Berry published five volumes of his collected works. Volume two contains a large section devoted to his house Strawberry Hill, including engraved illustrations of lavishly decorated rooms such as the library.
