Lyme Park interior-
The Hall Interior
Interiors of great houses are not really my area of interest, but I paid to enter and wander around while I was there. Some of those who take time to look at my posts may see something of interest to them. There was too great a collection of rooms for me to detail them all but I include photographs of some of the rooms through which I passed or peeped into.
There was, however, one item in the house that interested me considerably - the Lyme Caxton Missal. William Caxton, in 1476, effectively began the first industrial revolution in the British Isles by introducing from Europe the first printing press. It used movable type allowing rapid, reliable, reproduction of the printed word, and replaced laborious hand copying of texts. Such technology struck fear into the hearts of popes, princes and tyrants by allowing the education of ordinary people – bringing learning and knowledge and bypassing church and state censorship. The basic technology remained in use in many English printing and newspaper companies until, in the 1970s , it was replaced by computerised typesetting. If Caxton were to return today, provided that he could produce a trades union card, he would still probably be totally at home working with compositors in some small print houses.
The Lyme copy of the missal was published by Caxton in 1487 and printed for him in Paris. It has been in the North West of England since at least 1508. To me, that book represents real history - of world significance – not the history of mere fashions in furnishings and furniture.
Lyme Park interior-
The Hall Interior
Interiors of great houses are not really my area of interest, but I paid to enter and wander around while I was there. Some of those who take time to look at my posts may see something of interest to them. There was too great a collection of rooms for me to detail them all but I include photographs of some of the rooms through which I passed or peeped into.
There was, however, one item in the house that interested me considerably - the Lyme Caxton Missal. William Caxton, in 1476, effectively began the first industrial revolution in the British Isles by introducing from Europe the first printing press. It used movable type allowing rapid, reliable, reproduction of the printed word, and replaced laborious hand copying of texts. Such technology struck fear into the hearts of popes, princes and tyrants by allowing the education of ordinary people – bringing learning and knowledge and bypassing church and state censorship. The basic technology remained in use in many English printing and newspaper companies until, in the 1970s , it was replaced by computerised typesetting. If Caxton were to return today, provided that he could produce a trades union card, he would still probably be totally at home working with compositors in some small print houses.
The Lyme copy of the missal was published by Caxton in 1487 and printed for him in Paris. It has been in the North West of England since at least 1508. To me, that book represents real history - of world significance – not the history of mere fashions in furnishings and furniture.