The manuscripts consist of a small number of documents of the 13th to 17th centuries and an extensive collection of eighteenth century papers, including the private and official correspondence of the Howard family with most of the important men of the period. Among the public documents are papers and minutes relating to the "American War of Independence, the negotiations with the Americans in 1778-80 [and] the fifth Earl of Carlisle's mission to America as British commissioner". Of the private correspondence the largest group contains the letters of George Selwyn to the fifth Earl of Carlisle, 1767-1790.

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The manuscripts consist of a small number of documents of the 13th to 17th centuries and an extensive collection of eighteenth century papers, including the private and official correspondence of the Howard family with most of the important men of the period. Among the public documents are papers and minutes relating to the "American War of Independence, the negotiations with the Americans in 1778-80 [and] the fifth Earl of Carlisle's mission to America as British commissioner". Of the private correspondence the largest group contains the letters of George Selwyn to the fifth Earl of Carlisle, 1767-1790.

This book is the first complete study of the circumstances which led to the building of Castle Howard, one of the greatest and best-known English country houses. It describes how and why Charles Howard, third earl of Carlisle, decided to build it; how the architect Sir John Vanbrugh received his first commission; how the building was paid for and where the money came from; what the original interiors looked like; how the gardens and park were laid out; and the decision taken to build the first classical mausoleum in England, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. It relates the physical appearance of the architecture to the hopes, desires and personalities of those involved in the building and makes it possible to look at the house in the way that it was intended to be seen by visitors in the eighteenth century. The Building of Castle Howard should appeal to anyone who is interested in eighteenth-century architecture, in the history of gardens, in country houses, and in a historical detective story of a house which Sir John Vanbrugh was determined should be 'the top seat and garden of England.'