The London club began in the tavern and the coffee-house, and Nevill starts at the Mermaid before moving to the great houses of St. James’s Street: Boodle’s, Arthur’s, White’s, Brooks’s and the Cocoa-Tree. He recounts curious societies like the Beefsteak clubs, the rituals of blackballing and committees, late sittings, card play and fines, and the eccentric members whose habits became club legend.
Full of anecdote and gossip, it will delight readers of Georgian and Victorian social history and anyone who has wondered what went on behind those doors. Download the free EPUB.