Demy %vo, cloth, 21/- 



Somerset House, Past and 

 Present 



By RAYMOND NEEDHAM and 

 ALEXANDER WEBSTER. 



With Photogravure Frontispiece and many Illustrations. 



THIS book deals with the history of Somerset House from 

 its foundation by the Lord Protector in 1547 to the 

 present day. It is as far as possible a continuous record of the 

 events which in times gone by gathered illustrious personages 

 within the walls of the old palace and made it a centre of 

 English social life. For two centuries Somerset House was the 

 home of Queens and Princesses ; it was associated with the 

 stalwart Protestants of the Reformation and the intriguing 

 Catholics of the Revolution ; it has passed through greater 

 vicissitudes than almost any other secular edifice in London. 

 The modern building housed the early exhibitions of the Royal 

 Academy of Arts, a Naval Museum, the Royal and other learned 

 Societies, until, within the last fifty years, it was given over to 

 its present occupants and the matter-of-fact romance of the 

 Imperial Revenue. The history includes the story of King's 

 College, which since its inauguration has occupied a building 

 erected on the eastern edge of the site, and designed to 

 harmonise with the main structure. The volume is illustrated 

 by reproductions of rare old prints and a fine series of modern 

 photographs. 



LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. 



