J.K. Vernier
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Member # 123
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posted 11-10-2002 07:52 PM
    
I suppose that depends on what sort of information you are looking for. It is the sort of book I would recommend you not buy until you have a chance to look it over. The archeological importance of the MoL series is that it is the results of a series of carefully organized, well dated digs in the city, but they are not intended to be overviews of medieval archaeology as a whole, and so the coverage is sparse in some areas simply because certain types of material was not well-represented in these particular digs. The Medieval Household book is a sort of "catchall" for miscellaneous items, and it does not have the sort of depth that, for instance, the "Dress Accessories" volume has for buckles or toothpicks.
The Medieval Household covers a variety of kitchen wares, architectural fragments (roof tiles, chimney pots), lighting, bits of ironwork and pewter ware and wooden bits, but much of the material is fragmentary. Sometimes complete examples of items are illustrated for comparison, but not always, and the discussions of specific types of items tends to be sparse. The tendency towards hit-or-miss guesswork in the interpretations, characteristic of the entire series, hits a kind of peak in this volume because so many of the finds are uncommon or badly fragmented.I am glad that I bought the book because it does begin to cover types of objects which are rarely dealt with by other sources (and I have used it to make some small textile-working items for my girlfriend Eleanor and I expect to make other items as well), but it is not in and of itself a very helpful introduction to the household culture of medieval England. If you have seen the MoL Clothing and Textiles volume, and you feel that its fragmentary objects and relatively dry approach don't bother you, then the Medieval Household volume might be of use to you.
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