Wallpaper in Ireland 1700–1900

“This lavishly illustrated book is the first devoted to the subject of the manufacture and use of wallpaper in Ireland. Drawing on his extensive experience both as a maker and a researcher of historic wallpapers, David Skinner has compiled a detailed survey of the patterns used to decorate Irish houses from the early eighteenth century until the demise of the Irish ‘paper-staining’ trade at the close of the nineteenth century. Journals, letters, invoices and newspaper advertisements are among the sources explored to chart the history of wallpaper in Ireland, the role of emigrant Irish artisans in developing wallpaper manufacture in France and North America, the tax on wallpaper, and the trade in smuggled wallpaper between Ireland and Victorian England. The book will provide an invaluable guide to researchers, architects and those involved in the study of historic interiors. Many of the rooms illustrated are published here for the first time, and include little-known examples of the sumptuous wallpapers imported from China and France, set alongside the products of native ‘paper-stainers’.

Details:

Published 2014 by Churchill House Press
Hardback, 216 pages

All proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the work of the Irish Georgian Society in preserving Ireland’s built heritage.

Available from the Irish Georgian Society webshop.

I’m sorry……‘Wallpaper in Ireland’ is currently out of print and no longer available for purchase (August 2023).

Graham Hickey, The Sunday Times, August, 2014

“Skinner provides a fascinating insight not only into the manufacturers, purveyors, and consumers of wallpaper but also into the continuingly changing fashions of the Irish domestic decorative interior.”

Paul Caffrey, Irish Arts Review, Autumn, 2014

“This is a major contribution to the scholarship of the decorative arts in Ireland and it will stand alongside the works on Irish silver, glass, ceramics, dress, textiles, and furniture. It is also a great pleasure to read and David Skinner’s enthusiasm for his subject comes through in every chapter. He has that rare talent which is a complete technical knowledge of the material and a heightened appreciation of the visual beauty of the work. This book is an important reference work and is essential reading for anyone interested in the visual and material culture of Ireland.”