Book Review
As an avid book collector I find the prospect of talking about books a wonderful excuse to add to my small, but steadily growing stacks of printed wonders. Whether it is a stunningly bound, exquisitely printed Turkish volume on The Silk Road (found in a dusty stall at the Sultans Bizarre in Istanbul) or a tenderly worn copy of Russell Page’s The Education of a Gardener picked up at a Western Massachusetts tag sale, books intrigue casual readers and vintage book collectors.
Books carry us to wonderful places through words, pictures and illustrations. They educate, illuminate, inspire and outrage. At their worst, they can leave us feeling that time has been wasted. At their best, they cause time to evaporate leaving only the sound of turning pages as a link to our daily life.
It would be futile to promise you scholarly erudition as I share with you the books that I find of note. What I will commit to this suggested reading list is only from my experience. You may agree or disagree or not care at all. I will only share with you the things which cause me to, once again, commit to the idea that I can make this world a bit more beautiful.
So where to start on this suggested reading list? The possibilities are vast and reach back through centuries of hardcover classic book collections. Wanting to keep this introduction to “books on design” fresh and useful, my hand reaches for Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr.’s The Decoration of Houses. First printed at the beginning of the 20th century, this guidebook to creating a beautiful home always challenges and inspires.
With its feet unapologetically planted in the classical tradition, it raises the bar for thoughtful design while always encouraging personal style. “Most of the features of architecture that have persisted through various fluctuations of taste owe their preservation to the fact that they have been proved by experience to be necessary,” sums up for me the authors’ very direct observations on the design of a home.
At times the language can be thick to our ear (remember the opening monologue of The Age of Innocence, beautiful, but not your typical water cooler chatter), however, for anyone really interested in understanding the power of an empty room (“much of the sense of restfulness and comfort produced by certain rooms depends on the due adjustment of their fundamental parts.” P 19), they will find the reward well worth the labor.
