The Importance of Being Furnished: Four Bachelors at Home

BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND GOOD PICTURES

Rarely can a scholarly work be described as a page-turner, but author Evans has done so in penning this extraordinary volume. Indeed many words not commonly used to describe an erudite examination could be applied here, for the work is at turns joyful and tender, witty and well-researched, serious and sometimes even slapstick. No dull treatise is this.As the author of House at Lobster Cove and thus very familiar with the species and habitat of the sort of bachelor Evans portrays, I still found much information in his work which was new to me and feel it would appeal to a large and varied audience of readers. Aside from those with LGBTQ interests, decorators, architects, aesthetes, lovers of the 19th century, historians, and those who just love a genuine oddball will be pleased with what they find in the fascinating and thoughtfully illustrated pages of this book. Even the typeface of the chapter headings is a treat.To read about such unconventional men in such an uncommon manner is a delight.

In his latest book, The Importance of Being Furnished, Tripp Evans is the consummate host, guiding us through the storied lives and homes of four men of distinction and taste at the turn of the 20th century. Evans is the all-too-rare fusion of meticulous researcher and brilliant (often hilarious) storyteller, giving us a page-turner that will appeal to readers interested in interior design, New England history, gilded-age tastemakers, LGBTQ subjects and the history of American furnishings and decor.All four bachelors hail from similar cultural and economic backgrounds. In some cases, their social and amorous circles overlapped and intertwined. Others ultimately withdrew from society, seeking solace and prestige among familiar ancestral trappings. In every instance, Tripp Evans revivifies the private corners and extensive writings of four fascinating men and leaves us wishing we had been guests at their illustrious tables.

Turns out gay men have been leading the way in fabulous home decor since the Civil War! Tripp Evans did the research to make these little-known men come alive on the page. And he reveals the way that we all look to our homes as an extension and a projection of our selves.

A fascinating study of a niche gay subculture that explores the intertwining of the intimate biographies of the four subjects and their evolving aesthetics as they designed their personal spaces with an eye to their legacies. An absorbing read, richly illustrated.

This appears to be straightforward history of four men, their houses, and what's inside them. But it's so much more. It's about how the story of four bachelors and their passion for a house, for furniture, for ornament, for art, describe a larger convergence--of literature and art; economics; 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century history; and sexuality--that "for the first time in the modern era established the single man's household as an aspirational domestic model."As one who has always been fascinated by domesticity and the impact of architecture and objects on that domesticity, I loved the history this book contains. But I also loved and admired the lively and incisive writing. Not to mention the thorough illustrations, both photographs, drawings and plans throughout.The author admits, happily, that this is a love story to home, proof (again to quote from the book), "that a home, even when imagined or lost [holds] a power stronger than death."I LOVE that.