Country houses may be triumphs of architecture, fine and decorative art, and landscape design, but they are also about the history and transmission of ideas. In varying degrees their occupants thought, conversed, read, and responded to their milieu through books, newspapers, and other media. Their libraries and archives provide an invaluable record of how people in country houses fashioned themselves and their views of the world. The essays in this volume examine reading habits, book collections and practical applications of thinking to demonstrate how elite society exchanged ideas, absorbed new trends, and engaged in wider debate.