Literature on domestic interior decoration first emerged as a popular genre in Britain during the 1870s and 1880s, as middle-class readers sought decorating advice from books, household manuals, women's magazines, and professional journals. This intriguing book examines that literature and shows how it was influenced by the widespread liberalism of the middle class.

Judith Neiswander explains that during these years liberal values--individuality, cosmopolitanism, scientific rationalism, the progressive role of the elite, and the emancipation of women--informed advice about the...