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New introduction to the 2001 edition of

House Decoration

Paul Nooncree Hasluck's name will be well known to those who pore over bookdealers' catalogues dealing with the building trades. It crops up with such frequency, and in connection with so many titles, that one might be forgiven for thinking that he was yet another Victorian polymath. Subjects as diverse as upholstery, cycle building, and gas fitting appear under his name.

Hasluck was editor of both Building World, and Work, two weekly titles published by Cassell & Co. at the end of the nineteenth century. The bulk of the information in his books was contributed to the columns of those journals by experienced craftsmen. In the preface to this particular work, House Decoration, he specifically acknowledged the contribution of a ‘well-known London decorator’.

In common with a number of other works reproduced in facsimile by Donhead, the original was designed for the self-education of tradesmen. As such, it was short and to the point, no assumptions being made for previous experience. The Saturday Review could rightly say of the source of the information for this work: 'It is a curious reflection, but soundly true, that there is not a person of ordinary average intelligence and strength living who could not learn from this...how in a short time to make a living.' It is this approach that makes it so easy to pick up and dip into today.

House Decoration might, nowadays, be read by a wider range of people than originally intended. Practising painters and decorators, wishing to progress beyond the application of ready-mixed paint, might pick up some useful tips from its pages. The book was written at a time when such paint existed, but when it could equally have been made up by the painter, who would adjust it to suit the nature of the surface being painted. As a result, long-discontinued processes are described in several of the chapters. Although not strictly necessary, an understanding of these can only add to the modern tradesman's confidence and versatility.

The chapters on ‘How to mix oil paints’, ‘Painting a room’ and ‘Papering a room’ still hold true, with common sense hints that could only be learnt after a lifetime's work. Where else could one now find such simple instructions for mixing colour for use in decoration?

The book might equally be read at another level, for the information that it offers on the decoration of rooms and architectural elements of the period. Museum curators, design historians, and owners or administrators of historic buildings might all benefit from its introduction to some of the more obscure notions on colour harmony and colour contrast. It mentions the work of Chevreul, George Field, Owen Jones and John Ruskin, all names that are known, but whose theories have long been forgotten or misunderstood.

Practical examples of how these theories might be put into practice are included. These take the form of plates illustrating the disposition of colours on the different elements of a cornice in the main rooms of a house. Basic guidance is also provided on the treatment of halls, staircases and billiard rooms. This author knows of no modern text that provides similar help with the complexities of nineteenth-century decoration. Certainly, the designs and suggestions for the embellishment of walls and ceiling beds show how much has been lost under later coats of paint.

Perhaps, fuelled by this edition, the reader will be ready for the extra 400 pages of the expanded one that appeared at a later date as Cassell's House Decoration (Cassell & Co., London 1908).

Patrick Baty (Paint Consultant)

Patrick Baty has followed in his father's footsteps, and now runs Papers and Paints Ltd., in London. Although colour and modern paint have been his everyday concern for the last twenty years, he specializes in those used in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings. Practising as a paint analyst and advisor on historic decoration, he has assisted with many major restoration projects in the United Kingdom and North America. He also lectures and teaches in all aspects of the subject.

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