{"product_id":"connoisseurs-and-conmen-lewis-ryder-9781526177391","title":"Connoisseurs and Conmen: The Contest for Cultural Authority in Early Twentieth-Century Britain","description":"This book examines John Hilditch (1872-1930), a notorious collector of Chinese art who lied, hoaxed and manipulated in his struggle against museum experts to become a cultural authority. Previously overlooked as a pest with a dubious collection, this book uses Hilditch to interrogate how far the monumental social, cultural and political changes of the early twentieth century unsettled social and cultural hierarchies and how these hierarchies were remade. It shows how the cultural elites were forced to engage with the public and re-draw the boundaries of citizenship, expertise and high and low culture in response to unprecedented social mobility, the democratisation of culture and politics, as well as the effects of British imperialism which brought ordinary Britons access to antiquities as well as confidence to claim expertise over foreign cultures. The book will interest social and cultural historians of Modern Britain, museum scholars and art historians.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Lewis Ryder\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1526177390\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781526177391\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Manchester University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/28\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 290\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.07lbs","brand":"Lewis Ryder","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48440530075903,"sku":"9781526177391","price":130.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_04b5e9d0-b1da-4353-b22e-a6fb47011246.jpg?v=1777183046","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/connoisseurs-and-conmen-lewis-ryder-9781526177391","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}