Healthy Furniture and Decoration; Fires and Fire Brigades.

London: Printed and Published for the Executive Council of the International Health Exhibition, and for the Council of the Society of Arts, by William Clowes and Sons, 1884. Hardcover. Very good. 75, 118 p. 21 cm. First section has 10 full-page illustrations and some smaller illustrations within text. Second section has frontispiece and one fold-out plate. Half leather with purple cloth. Marbled endpapers and text block edges. Moderate wear to spine and corners. Ink signature on a front leaf. Some pencil marks.

International Health Exhibition, London, 1884. Four million people visited this exhibition, the motto of which was: "From labour health, from health contentment springs".

Colonel Robert William Edis, C.B. (1839-1927), was a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Society of Art, and was President of the Architectural Association in 1865-67. He became better known, however, as the architect of some palatial private homes and other buildings in London, and for his work on Sandringham for the royal family. But he was also interested in hygiene as the first article in this volume indicates. Edis dislikes surfaces that invite dust and cannot easily be cleaned, praising instead simple furniture and decor, such as the use of wipe-clean tiling where appropriate, blinds rather than heavy curtains in the bedroom, wooden hinged tops to baths to keep them clean, and, above all, good ventilation.

Sir Eyre Massey Shaw (1828–1908), chief of the London Metropolitan Fire Brigade, was known for his great energy. He threw himself into organising the service's administration and personally oversaw the training of firemen. During the day he inspected fire stations, while at night he criss-crossed the city to be present at all fires. He took an active part in firefighting and was injured many times, twice severely. With an average of five fires a day in late Victorian London, he needed to constantly lobby the government for more funding, and he was so successful that, between 1866 and 1890, the service's funding went up from £50,000 to £120,000 a year.