How to Live in a Flat

by W. Heath Robinson, K.R.G. Browne

'How to Live in a Flat', if posed as a question, is worth asking today with so many articles on tiny flats with hugely inflated price tags in the newspapers. Flat-dwellers were faced with very similar problems in 1936. During 1932 and 1933 Heath Robinson had drawn a series of cartoons for 'The Sketch' entitled ‘Flat Life’, which depicted various gadgets designed to make the most of the limited space available in the contemporary flat. It was this series of drawings that provided K. R. G. Browne and W. Heath Robinson with the inspiration for their first full-length book together. It was called 'How to Live in a Flat' and, as well as greatly extending the original ideas showing many ingenious ways of overcoming the problems caused by lack of space in flats and bungalows, the book also provided much fun at the expense of the more extreme designs in thirties furniture and architecture. The book was published for Christmas 1936 and was well received.

'How to Live in a Flat' is surprisingly relevant to life in Britain in 2014. In fact, several of Heath Robinson’s space-economising solutions have been used in practice to maximise the use of space in small flats. We have beds that fold down from wardrobes fully-made and ready to sleep in, communal rubbish shoots, central heating and multi-purpose furniture. So Heath Robinson was way ahead of his time and reading 'How to Live in a Flat' may spark other innovative solutions to making life bearable in a tiny twenty-first century home!

If, in addition to being a flat-dweller (perhaps in a garden flat), you are also married with a car and you play golf then you will find much to amuse and inform you in our other titles by Heath Robinson and K. R. G. Browne:
• How to be a Perfect Husband
• How to Make a Garden Grow
• How to be a Motorist
• Humours of Golf

All our Heath Robinson titles include a Foreword by Geoffrey Beare, Trustee of the William Heath Robinson Trust, who is working to build a Heath Robinson museum in North London.

Genres: Humor, Nonfiction

136 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

William Heath Robinson (31 May 1872 - 13 September 1944) was an English cartoonist and illustrator best known for drawings of ridiculously complicated machines for achieving simple objectives.

His brothers, Thomas Heath Robinson and Charles Robinson were also artists.

In the U.K., the term "Heath Robinson" entered the language during the 1914–1918 First World War as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contrivance, much as "Rube Goldberg machines" came to be used in the U.S. from the 1930s onwards as a term for similar efforts. "Heath Robinson contraption" is perhaps more often used in relation to temporary fixes using ingenuity and whatever is to hand, often string and tape, or unlikely cannibalisations. Its continuing popularity was undoubtedly linked to Second World War Britain's shortages and the need to "make do and mend".

Reviews

[Judith Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Howto Live in a Flat is the first of the 'How to...' titles by Heath Robinson and K.R.G. Browne. Recently published as an ebook by RHE Media Limited, this is a very funny look at living in small spaces with wonderful drawings by the master illustrator William Heath Robinson. Heath Robinson was known as the 'King of Gadgets' and is the UK's equivalent of Rube Goldberg. In this book we have ingenious space-saving ideas such as the Dibedroom - a combination of dining room and guest bedroom and the combined bath and desk for the flat-dwelling business man in a hurry! The text by K.R.G. Browne is also very funny and it is clear that Heath Robinson and Browne were an excellent author and illustrator partnership. With all the news articles about tiny flats being sold for huge sums this 1930s gem is as relevant today as it was between the wars.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in the 30s but still very relevant for the modern flat-dweller, this book takes a look at what sort of space-saving inventions might help those living in small spaces. From funny (the "parrot chair", a chair with a bird-cage base) to funnier (the "fresh-air parlour" - one's chair, coffee table, and wall decorations are suspended from poles jutting out from the side of the building), and from absurd (the influenza chair, with a built-in kettle for making hot tea without having to get up) to realistic (a spare bedroom created by moving a wall on wheels across the dining room - I recently looked at an apartment that had this feature to make a studio apartment into a 1-bdrm!), Heath Robinson's drawings and K.R.G. Browne's text will make you yearn for a smaller place so you can make use of these amazing inventions!

FYI - I ordered this book online from the Bodleian Library Shop - an amazing resource for generally useless but totally fun items for the bibliophile(s) in your life!

[Vonnie Skaggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny!!
A great coffee table book, especially if you live in a flat (as I do).
I LOVE Heath Robinson's drawings and K. R. G. Browne's instructional narrative of how to navigate life as a flat-dweller was a perfect pairing.

[Knut Sigurd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frykteleg søt

[Paul Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely presented hardback edition. Heath Robinson's absurd inventions and Browne's humorous text sit well together.

[Phoebe Veitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful, inventive illustrations, enjoyable use of black and white line, combined with humorous text made for an interesting holiday read. Still relevant from the 30's?? Love that.

[L.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trafiłem na to dziełko w antykwariacie, kosztowało 4zł, więc kupiłem. Już po kilku stronach wiedziałem, że o NIE jest poradnik :D oczywiście od razu zauważyłem zabawne obrazki, ale że się w treść ani troszeczkę nie wczytałem, to myślałem że tylko obrazki są dla śmiechu, podczas gdy tak naprawdę cała książka jest parodią poradnika. I właściwie to nie wiem jak ją ocenić. Szybko się to czyta i jest zabawna, ale jednak mam wrażenie iż autorzy mają rację pisząc pod koniec: "Nie wydaje się, aby czytelnik (...) mógł mieć tyle zabawy z przetrawienia tego dziełka ile my mieliśmy przy jego opracowaniu." Na ogół tego typu książki nie są w moim stylu (są zabawne, ale nic nie wnoszą, poza tym przez zastosowanie umyślnie trudnych słów niezupełnie lekko się to czyta), ale ta była na tyle w porządku że 4 na 5 gwiazdek mogę dać.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Found this gem on a dusty shelf in the back bedroom. Such a perfect bit of British humor!