Light and comforting as a featherbed

books:


	• Warm & Snug: The History of the Bed (Sutton History Classics) Lawrence Wright The History Press, 2004 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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Light and comforting as a featherbed

Though it seems to have been well researched, this is not a scholarly work, at least not the usual kind. It is, rather, an informative, offbeat, and (at least to my mind) very funny account of humankind's efforts over the centuries to get a decent night's sleep. The arrangements, contraptions, and methods employed have been astonishingly varied and mostly unsatisfactory. Mr. Wright (a onetime R.A.F officer as I recall) is a graceful and witty writer, joining a somewhat Will Cuppy-ish sensibility to a smooth and civilized style. This has been for many years one of my favorite books (in the 1962 Routledge & Kegan Paul hardcover edition), and I'm delighted to see it back in print.

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In this book, Lawrence Wright takes a look at the place where we spend a third of our lives - bed. From a Neolithic stone bed unearthed at Skara Brae to the bed (c. 1350 BC) from Tutankhamen's tomb, from stark Anglo-Saxon designs to ornate early Renaissance beds and elaborate State bedchambers, this is a journey through the history of social, sexual and sanitary attitudes to the design of beds. Illustrated with over 200 images, including early wood-engravings and etchings and later contemporary drawings, this book explores beautiful, bizarre and humorous approaches to beds. Chippendale, in his Chinese period, created an elegant lacquered and gilt bed in strange contrast to his fantastic design for one with such an elaborate and overpowering superstructure that the bed itself looks like a small cushion. In modern times, the need for space inspired more practical designs such as wardrobe beds and American metal folding beds. Filled with a wealth of curious facts this is an ideal book for anyone interested in the history of everyday things.

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