London Hamilton Adams and Co 1846

Frontis, iv+96pp. Small 8vo. Blind stamped red cloth with gilt monogram on upper board. Rebacked. Forde Abbey is a privately-owned former Cistercian monastery and Grade I listed building. Forde Abbey was bought by Edmund Prideaux, MP for Lyme Regis and Oliver Cromwell's Attorney General. Before his death in 1659 Prideaux converted the buildings from a monastic residence to a private home. It has 18th century gardens and a landscape park. This early guidebook describes the early history of the estate from the establishment of it as a monastic foundation to its conversion into a country house. Hard to find.