Coffee Table Book of: The Set Table (Hardcover)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: The Set Table is a large format book of the set table, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: places laid on white and green linen, teapots, cake stands, candlesticks, decanters and cut glass seen close, tables laid in bare rooms and out under the open sky, and the quiet work of polishing, ironing and laying that comes before the meal.

The garden luncheons are laid under apple blossom and an old olive tree, in a meadow of buttercups, under a white parasol on a lawn by a lake and among lemon trees in a glasshouse, with jugs of tulips and wild flowers, lemonade, strawberries, salads and crusty bread.

The harvest feasts are set in an empty barn, an apple orchard and a stubble field at sunset, with a golden roast on its platter, an apple pie under a lattice crust, soup in a hollowed pumpkin, bowls of apples, pears, grapes and figs, a sheaf of wheat among gourds and a table laid for two on a lawn of fallen leaves.

Candlelit dinners glow in rooms of deep green and dark blue, in a bare hall at dusk, beside a low fire, in a vaulted cellar, on a heather moor as the light fades and at a long table after the feast. Winter brings a holiday table laid by a snowy window, a supper in a snowy garden under the stars, a breakfast on a snowy field, a wreath of fir and holly, oranges studded with cloves, a dark fruit pudding, a bowl of nuts and two glasses of sparkling wine at midnight.

Dessert tables carry a layer cake with strawberries, meringues, a trifle, a ruby jelly and a stand of small cakes. Close details show white damask, crackled glaze, cut glass and lace, and the care of the table runs throughout: silver polished, linen ironed and dried on the line, glasses dried upside down, candles dipped and a broken bowl mended with gold.

Short notes run through the book, on how a table is laid and why, the food, flowers and candles of the seasons, and the making and care of tableware and linen: on a tiered stand, sandwiches go on the lowest plate, scones in the middle and sweets on top, a snuffer puts a flame out without blowing, so no hot wax spatters across the cloth, jellies were once set in tall copper moulds that gave them ridged, towering shapes, and oranges studded with cloves dry slowly and scent a room for weeks.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.