Books by Sacheverell Sitwell

In this book Mr. Sacheverell Sitwell, looking at the Netherlands through his own eyes rather than through those of his many predecessors, has produced a pic­ture of the country which may appear un­orthodox only because of its unfamiliarity. In his belief Holland, as a country, is as individual as Russia or as Spain, and there is a great deal more to be seen and enjoyed in it than the picture galleries, windmills, canals, flower markets and bare empty churches which seem to have impressed previous writers.It has been Mr. Sitwell's endeavour to get out of the museums and into the open-air-out of the museums and, likewise, away from the great cities (although not without having entered some of the old and forgotten patrician houses of The Hague and Amsterdam).In this way the author has discovered a new and beautiful Holland in which the architecture of the eighteenth century, the strange villages and costumes of Friesland, or the art of a Daniel Marot and a Cornelis Troost are taken as truly representative of this at once phlegmatic and poetical people and the man-made wonders of their largely artificial country. The result is a book both to awaken curiosity and, so far as a book may do so, to satisfy it-more especially as the very numerous photographs go side by side with the text and illustrate it at almost every point.If the traditionally pic­turesque and quaint appear as seldom among these illustrations as they do in the text the intelligent reader is presented all the more with a picture of a country whose proximity and unfamiliarity will form added inducements to a visit.

A narrative of his time in Denmark, this work is largely concerned with the topography of the country, telling the intending visitor about all those features of the country's buildings, landscape and people which are most characteristic and best worth seeing.First published in 1956, this is a comprehensive study on Denmark, including the history and culture. To read a travel book by this author is to visit a country with a new pair of eyes.

'At the first mention of going to Roumania, a great many people, as I did myself, would take down their atlas and open the map. For Roumania, there can be no question, is among the lesser known lands of Europe.'So begins Sir Sacheverell Sitwell's account of his Roumanian journey, made in the 1930s, when Bucharest was still eight days overland from London.His four-week trip brings him into contact with longhaired gypsies at country fairs as well as the aristocracy in their medieval castles. The natural richness and variety of the landscape-from Transylvania to the Wallachian plains, the Carpathian peaks to the Danube Delta-delight him, as does the diversity of humanity he encounters, while his deep knowledge of European art and architecture makes him the ideal guide to the paintings, frescos, and buildings of Roumania.It is impossible, of course, to read of Roumania in the 1930s without thinking of what lay ahead for that country, but the abiding impression left by the book is of the freshness of Sitwell's perceptions and his unquenchable curiosity in everything he saw.

Sacheverell Sitwell's fascinating biography of the Hungarian composer and piano virtuoso, Franz Liszt.

Sacheverell Sitwell's classic work of biography, which renders the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in sparkling detail

'The genius of English architecture is the glory of England, second only to the printed word.'Thus Sacheverell Sitwell (younger brother of Edith and Osbert Sitwell) concludes British Architects and Craftsmen, an absorbing survey of taste, design, and style from 1600 to 1830, first published to great critical acclaim in 1945.

Presents an introduction to the Imperial capital of the Tsars. This book recreates one glittering day in the life of St Petersburg in its heyday.