Talk:The Story of Your Home

Citation tag
(copied from User talk:HighKing About the citation: I'm a bit at a loss here - I based my description of the book on my reading of it, but I no longer have access to it so I can't give page numbers. I'm not sure Agnes Allen used the term "British Isles"; I used it rather than "Great Britain" because there is at least one reference to Ireland. I could change it to GB, which is at least supported by the Open Library entry, or I could put "British domestic life and architecture". Or are you querying whether it was specifically British rather than general or at least European? - but the reference for that would be the book as a whole, which only uses British examples, and not in a wider context either. A modern book of the kind would be rather different, of course, but the insularity of it has a certain period charm.

In the interests of removing the citation tag from the article, what would you suggest? What public descriptions of the book are you referring to in your edit note? I only know of the ones I cited. I look forward to hearing from you - I'll add your page to my watch list for now. Robina Fox (talk) 01:45, 9 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi Robina - I was questioning the use of "British Isles" since all of the descriptions I've come across only state "British" or "Great Britain". The link on the Carnegie website doesn't use either but uses "Elizabethan" and the worldcat library classifies it into "Dwellings - Great Britain - Juvenile literature". I'd prefer to use something referencable such as "British domestic life and architecture". --HighKing (talk) 15:36, 9 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi Robina, I notice HighKing is challenging your use of the British Isles terminology. It might be worth you looking at the background behind this challenge. You could look at his edit history and also mine; you will probably be astounded at what's been going on. For my part, I don't have a problem with the use of British Isles in the article. As you point out, it's a good term to encompass something that applies to both Britain and Ireland and I'd be inclined to leave it. Regards, LevenBoy (talk) 15:56, 9 May 2011 (UTC)
 * LevenBoy, you've been told countless times, comment on the content and not on the editor. I'd also remind you of WP:GS/BI.  You may not have a problem, but do you have a reference?  --HighKing (talk) 12:57, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Nope, don't need one. Interpretation of B&I as BI is ok for me in this article, as it is for most people. And if you are reminding me of WP:GS/BI you must think it's still valid, so why are you back to trawling the system looking for BI to delete? LevenBoy (talk) 16:36, 16 May 2011 (UTC)
 * The book is clearly described in all references as being about buildings in Britain. There is no reference for any building in Ireland, so there is no B&I to speak of.  And yes, the editing (and civility) restrictions are all still in force at WP:GS/BI.  --HighKing (talk) 10:38, 17 May 2011 (UTC)

Hi, Robina, During unrelated revisions I have specified "in Great Britain" (should that be "on Great Britain"?) and reiterated "domestic" for clarity. The crucial subject description is now "domestic architecture and domestic life in Great Britain", which links to "House" and the island G.B. --P64 (talk) 21:32, 23 July 2012 (UTC)

The Story ... series
I wonder whether this article should devote a section to the series. There is no biography of Agnes Allen and "Reception" says this was best-received of the series. I guess no other in the series will be covered.

One WorldCat record for the first book, first edition, [] provides the description "213 p. : ill." and does not name Jack Allen. This suggests to me that Jack Allen was expert in architectural drawing specifically. Whether Jack's doing or not, this book may have been most successful in the series because Your Home (house) was most suited to Allen drawing. (We name The Village, our Parliament, the Highway, and Clothes --four other Stories by A. Allen.) --P64 (talk) 21:32, 23 July 2012 (UTC)


 * The U.S. Library of Congress Catalog does not have any edition of The Story of the Village (1947) or any copy of the first The Story of Your Home (1949). It does hold seven "Story" titles; this list gives the earliest date where applicable.
 * 1956j Archaeology
 * 1955aj Clothes
 * 1953 Michelangelo
 * 1966 Painting
 * 1958j Sculpture
 * 1967 Sculpture; completed by John Cottrell
 * 1967aj the Book
 * 1972aj your Home (New Edition)
 * aj = illustrated by Agnes and Jack Allen
 * j = illus. Jack Allen
 * --P64 (talk) 22:04, 6 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Here is an overview of both the Story and Living series gleaned from WorldCat
 * "Allen, Agnes". WorldCat. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
 * Story series
 * 1952 ... the Book (the most widely held in participating libraries)
 * 1956 ... Archaeology
 * 1955 ... Clothes
 * 1958 ... Sculpture
 * 1953 ... Michelangelo
 * 1949 ... your Home
 * 1948 ... Painting
 * 1953 The Co-operative Story (Manchester: Cooperative Union) —Agnes & Jack; 64pp;
 * 1949 ... our Parliament
 * 1947 ... the Village (earliest; tenth-most widely held)
 * 1950 ... the Highway
 * Thus according to this record ten of Agnes Allen's eleven most widely held works are 10 Story books.


 * 1958 Your book of Architecture —Agnes & Jack; 72pp; third book of dozens in another Faber series, by multiple authors


 * Living series
 * 1951 Living in the Middle Ages —	Johnston's Junior histories series; 191pp; —ed. 2, 1959 "enlarged" Living in history #2; 160pp
 * 1955 Living under the Tudors and Stuarts —J&B 1955; 192pp; illus Agnes?; One of "Johnston's Junior Histories." —ed. 2, 1960, Living in history #3; 160pp
 * 1960 Living in Britain since 1700 —aka Life in Britain since 1700 (1956) —ed. 2, 1960, Living in history #4; 160pp
 * Living in History (Oxford: Heinemann Library, 1997) —contents: Victorian kitchen
 * 1959 Living long ago —(Johnston & Bacon, 1959) —Agnes w 49 ill. Grace Lodge; 80pp
 * --P64 (talk) 01:15, 16 November 2012 (UTC)


 * evidently her husband and collaborator Jack Allen is not identified by the U.S. Library of Congress: not distinguished from other Jack Allens (or John Allens?), no LCCN assigned, not linked from catalogue records where he is a named co-author of works by Agnes Allen (example). --P64 (talk) 02:16, 23 October 2015 (UTC)