Henry James and Lamb House, Rye, East Sussex

Henry James (1843–1916) owned the eighteenth century Lamb House in West Street, Rye, East Sussex, named after James Lamb (1693

–1756). There are three plaques outside:

'In Lamb House lived

E. F. BENSON

from 1919 to 1940

and

A. C. BENSON

from 1922 to 1925

Brothers and writers'

'HENRY JAMES

AUTHOR

LIVED HERE

1898–1916'

'IN A GARDEN

HOUSE ON THIS

SITE – DESTROYED

IN AN AIR RAID ON

18^TH AUGUST 1940 

HENRY JAMES

WROTE MANY OF

HIS NOVELS'

Among the most noted novels that Henry James wrote in his garden room were The Wings of a Dove (1902), The Ambassadors (1903) and The Golden Bowl (1904). Fortunately, the rest of the house is intact.

The Dining Room. The painting is a reproduction of Singer Sargent's,  commissioned by friends for James's seventieth birthday. The fireplace has Delft tiles at the side of it.

A terra cotta bust of Count Alberto Bevilacqua which James bought from Hendrik Andersen's Rome studio in 1899 for $250.

The fireplace in the room to the right of the hall, 'the Telephone room': . At the top are two of the many walking sticks James used. The telephone itself displayed here isn't James's original.

The oak parlour, dominated by the painting of George I, who was shipwrecked off the coast of Rye and stayed with James Lamb's family here for four days.

The small pictur above the mantelpiece is The Garden of the Hesperides which was given to James by his friend Constance Fenimore Woolston (1840

–94).

The marble bust of James made in 1913 by F. Derwent Wood.

The bronze bust of James by Hendrik Andersen, in 1904.

The dog cemetery in a corner of the garden.

James left his house to Henry James junior, his nephew, and apart from the Bensons, other people who lived here include H. Montgomery Hyde, Rumer Godden, and the dust jacket designer Brian Batsford.