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At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
From an elegant, curved modern library with sunny picture windows to a bedroom library with dark wood paneling; from a simple apartment with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves to the grand Rothschild library, At Home with Books shows how book lovers live with their books in every room of the house.
Includes professional advice on editing and categorizing your library; caring for your books; preserving, restoring, and storing rare books; finding out-of-print books; and choosing furniture, lighting, and shelving.
Includes professional advice on editing and categorizing your library; caring for your books; preserving, restoring, and storing rare books; finding out-of-print books; and choosing furniture, lighting, and shelving.
248 pages, Hardcover
First published October 31, 1995
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November 25, 2011
At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
By: Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohm, and Christopher Simon Sykes
Published By: Carol Southern Books
At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
This is basically a coffee table book filled with great photography, featuring outstanding home libraries. Most of the libraries featured are of the rich and famous.
The book contains how-to chapters on organizing your library, collecting, design, bookbinding, etc. These chapters were written by Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm. Additionally, many of the owners of the libraries featured are interviewed, by them.
The photography was done by Christopher Simon Sykes. Sykes did a fantastic job in showing the reader books, bookshelves, and libraries. These photographs provide many ideas which can be use to design ones own home library.
I would like to be able to transform my 14X14 library, into a more sophisticated design.
Currently, I try to keep a place where is can sit and read with comfort. No television or telephone, (but I do have a ½ bathroom). I have many books stored in my office, bedroom, and basement. I don’t have room to enlarge.
While the book is a little dated, I have increased my knowledge on home libraries and now know in which direction I want to go. I will keep the book on the coffee table for reference.
By: Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohm, and Christopher Simon Sykes
Published By: Carol Southern Books
At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries
This is basically a coffee table book filled with great photography, featuring outstanding home libraries. Most of the libraries featured are of the rich and famous.
The book contains how-to chapters on organizing your library, collecting, design, bookbinding, etc. These chapters were written by Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm. Additionally, many of the owners of the libraries featured are interviewed, by them.
The photography was done by Christopher Simon Sykes. Sykes did a fantastic job in showing the reader books, bookshelves, and libraries. These photographs provide many ideas which can be use to design ones own home library.
I would like to be able to transform my 14X14 library, into a more sophisticated design.
Currently, I try to keep a place where is can sit and read with comfort. No television or telephone, (but I do have a ½ bathroom). I have many books stored in my office, bedroom, and basement. I don’t have room to enlarge.
While the book is a little dated, I have increased my knowledge on home libraries and now know in which direction I want to go. I will keep the book on the coffee table for reference.
May 19, 2018
A personal warning: This book will incite envy and jealousy!
Again, this book will incite envy and jealousy towards people who are blessed with the ability to acquire so many books and so much space such that they can immerse themselves in the sea of books in a personal, elegant (and often luxurious) way: a personal library.
This book tells me that I am not alone in this lonesome craze for book reading and collecting. There are other people who are more insanely absorbed with this passion. Compared to them I am just an infant in this journey. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this book contains hundred of thousands words (maybe more) confirming it.
I was left with a warm feeling and more importantly a (refreshed) personal goal. It reassures me how exciting and enriching this lifestyle can be. These examples just show me many ways others have done (are doing) it.
My favorites parts are among others, the book-town in England - I definitely put it high in my travel list - , and the quirkiness of the individuals portrayed in this book put which me in a reflective mode - making me try to find out what mine is. Or I might pick up some of those after this.
I have not felt so at home with books for a long time….
Again, this book will incite envy and jealousy towards people who are blessed with the ability to acquire so many books and so much space such that they can immerse themselves in the sea of books in a personal, elegant (and often luxurious) way: a personal library.
This book tells me that I am not alone in this lonesome craze for book reading and collecting. There are other people who are more insanely absorbed with this passion. Compared to them I am just an infant in this journey. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this book contains hundred of thousands words (maybe more) confirming it.
I was left with a warm feeling and more importantly a (refreshed) personal goal. It reassures me how exciting and enriching this lifestyle can be. These examples just show me many ways others have done (are doing) it.
My favorites parts are among others, the book-town in England - I definitely put it high in my travel list - , and the quirkiness of the individuals portrayed in this book put which me in a reflective mode - making me try to find out what mine is. Or I might pick up some of those after this.
I have not felt so at home with books for a long time….
May 11, 2011
This is a wonderful book which introduces the reader to many home libraries owned by individuals some of whom are famous in the arts or literature or business or the book world. What all these people have in common is a love of books dating from childhood.
While my apartment's book shelves certainly cannot compare to anything on view in these pages, I was struck by the apparent similarities of attitude I saw while reading and browsing through the pictures. The stacked books, many with bookmarks, sitting at odd angles just waiting to be picked up and read. Knick knacks spread on shelves among the crowds of books. Too much but never enough. It appears that these traits have nothing to do with the opulence of the library but all to do with the mindset of the reader.
There are even suggestions on how to construct a library of one's own (both in terms of the books and in terms of the space).
While I will never have that type of physical library, I believe I definitely have an emotional library on the right scale for my life.
I enjoyed this trip through a library dreamscape very much.
While my apartment's book shelves certainly cannot compare to anything on view in these pages, I was struck by the apparent similarities of attitude I saw while reading and browsing through the pictures. The stacked books, many with bookmarks, sitting at odd angles just waiting to be picked up and read. Knick knacks spread on shelves among the crowds of books. Too much but never enough. It appears that these traits have nothing to do with the opulence of the library but all to do with the mindset of the reader.
There are even suggestions on how to construct a library of one's own (both in terms of the books and in terms of the space).
While I will never have that type of physical library, I believe I definitely have an emotional library on the right scale for my life.
I enjoyed this trip through a library dreamscape very much.
October 13, 2008
At Home With Books: How Book Lovers Live and Care for Their Libraries, is a book about books, and book lovers --forty of them. Featured in this book are the diverse libraries created for the passion they all share. This book includes interviews with these bibliophiles. A common trait reveals that the majority of book lovers had an early love of books, that grew as they got older.
This book features beautiful illustrations of many many personal libraries (some far too rich for my taste), but simply spectacular. There is also a lot of practical information on how to arrange and store books, integrate new books into your collection, how to thin out collections, and how to create a comfortable place to read with the right shelving, lighting and furniture.
I really enjoyed flipping the pages, studying the photos, and reading about others with serious book addictions. It gave me some great ideas and made me feel better about my book obsession as well.
This book features beautiful illustrations of many many personal libraries (some far too rich for my taste), but simply spectacular. There is also a lot of practical information on how to arrange and store books, integrate new books into your collection, how to thin out collections, and how to create a comfortable place to read with the right shelving, lighting and furniture.
I really enjoyed flipping the pages, studying the photos, and reading about others with serious book addictions. It gave me some great ideas and made me feel better about my book obsession as well.
July 11, 2024
I confess that I mostly didn't read the text, but flipping through luscious photos of amazing private libraries can soothe the soul. Not 100%, since these are 'rich people libraries', so following up with a the same kind of book on public libraries (okay, 'rich country libraries') would help close the gap a bit. On the other hand, I can't say I wish I had a rich person library - my little shelves in my little house are a wonderful privilege too. Nothing collectible, nothing valuable, but every book is loved or waiting to be loved! Even if a future read becomes a DNF, it's still loved :)
March 14, 2008
At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries (1995)
This is just the kind of book I’ve wanted to find for a long time because it’s a series of stories about people who are bibliomaniacs, like myself, and how they collect, store, and present their library collections at home.
Jane Stubbs is a bookseller in Manhattan, her husband is an architect. They both realized they have an obsession for collecting books. They already have over eight thousand books at home and none of it is on computer. John explains,” The challenge is to plan a home for books that does more than accommodate them physically. Books should be arranged so they’re accessible and provide the pleasure of their presence.” (p. 12)
Seymour Durst is a builder, who, for thirty years, has assembled the most comprehensive private collection in existence devoted to New York City. He transformed his five story home into what he calls old York Library, filling sixteen of the twenty rooms with twelve thousand volumes.
Andrew, eleventh duke of Devonshire, lives in one of the largest and finest of England’s stately homes. The home already had a library, but the duke proceeded to begin his own collection. “What I set out to do was produce a library so wide-ranging that a person of reasonable education could stay here for two years and emerge quite happy.” (p. 21)
Then there’s Ruth and Marvin Sackner of Miami Beach and their unusual collection. There are only three collections like it in the world. One is in the Getty Museum in California, another is in the Stuttgart Museum in Germany. The third is the Sackner home center for viewing and studying concrete and visual poetry with an archive of thirty five thousand volumes in their 1930s modern house (p. 25)
Victor Niederhoffer is a broker with a huge house in Connecticut. “I wanted,” he says, “to create a library of the key achievements of Western civilization—the most influential movers and shakers….” (p. 33) His collection now has roughly eighteen thousand books.
Paul Getty recently completed building a library near his home in Oxfordshire, England with state of the art technology for preserving its books for centuries to come. The library contains over five thousand rare books and manuscripts exemplifying the art of the book (p. 37).
The aforementioned collectors’ libraries are among forty one libraries covered in this book in six major categories. The collectors are in The Grand Passion. Also we have Beautiful Bookscapes, Designer Stacks (which includes Michael Graves and Bill Blass), Wall to Wall Books, Literary Lairs (which includes a small reading society library in a village on a remote island just off of Greece), and Private Pleasures (which includes Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and Pirates of the Caribbean).
The book also has, scattered between the categories, practical examples and advice such as English Country House Libraries, How to Organize Your Library, How to Start a Collection, Library Lighting, The Art of the Bookshelf, Bookplates, Bookbinders and Conservationists, The Enemies of Books, Library Ladders, and Great Libraries. There is also a resource directory at the end of the volume. In conclusion, this is the best book I’ve ever seen for a neophyte bibliomaniac like myself and it’s packed with great color photographs of these forty one individuals’ libraries.
This is just the kind of book I’ve wanted to find for a long time because it’s a series of stories about people who are bibliomaniacs, like myself, and how they collect, store, and present their library collections at home.
Jane Stubbs is a bookseller in Manhattan, her husband is an architect. They both realized they have an obsession for collecting books. They already have over eight thousand books at home and none of it is on computer. John explains,” The challenge is to plan a home for books that does more than accommodate them physically. Books should be arranged so they’re accessible and provide the pleasure of their presence.” (p. 12)
Seymour Durst is a builder, who, for thirty years, has assembled the most comprehensive private collection in existence devoted to New York City. He transformed his five story home into what he calls old York Library, filling sixteen of the twenty rooms with twelve thousand volumes.
Andrew, eleventh duke of Devonshire, lives in one of the largest and finest of England’s stately homes. The home already had a library, but the duke proceeded to begin his own collection. “What I set out to do was produce a library so wide-ranging that a person of reasonable education could stay here for two years and emerge quite happy.” (p. 21)
Then there’s Ruth and Marvin Sackner of Miami Beach and their unusual collection. There are only three collections like it in the world. One is in the Getty Museum in California, another is in the Stuttgart Museum in Germany. The third is the Sackner home center for viewing and studying concrete and visual poetry with an archive of thirty five thousand volumes in their 1930s modern house (p. 25)
Victor Niederhoffer is a broker with a huge house in Connecticut. “I wanted,” he says, “to create a library of the key achievements of Western civilization—the most influential movers and shakers….” (p. 33) His collection now has roughly eighteen thousand books.
Paul Getty recently completed building a library near his home in Oxfordshire, England with state of the art technology for preserving its books for centuries to come. The library contains over five thousand rare books and manuscripts exemplifying the art of the book (p. 37).
The aforementioned collectors’ libraries are among forty one libraries covered in this book in six major categories. The collectors are in The Grand Passion. Also we have Beautiful Bookscapes, Designer Stacks (which includes Michael Graves and Bill Blass), Wall to Wall Books, Literary Lairs (which includes a small reading society library in a village on a remote island just off of Greece), and Private Pleasures (which includes Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and Pirates of the Caribbean).
The book also has, scattered between the categories, practical examples and advice such as English Country House Libraries, How to Organize Your Library, How to Start a Collection, Library Lighting, The Art of the Bookshelf, Bookplates, Bookbinders and Conservationists, The Enemies of Books, Library Ladders, and Great Libraries. There is also a resource directory at the end of the volume. In conclusion, this is the best book I’ve ever seen for a neophyte bibliomaniac like myself and it’s packed with great color photographs of these forty one individuals’ libraries.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 21, 2023
Homes, books, book lovers, and libraries! Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohn, and Christopher Simon Sykes’ At Home with Books: How booklovers Live with and Care of their libraries discusses the ‘grand passion’ of eight people such as the eleventh Duke of Devonshire’s library at Chatsworth in Derbyshire and Paul Getty’s library which contains “ five thousand rare books and manuscripts” in a “castlelike folly attached toMr. Getty’s main house” in Oxfordshire, England. In addition to the previous mentioned, also included are examples of English Country House libraries and Hay-on-Wye - Booktown. ‘Beautiful Bookscapes is next with chapters on ‘how to organize your library’ and ‘How to start your collection’. Designer Stacks pops up next with the likes of Bill Blass, David Hicks, and Joan Vass with chapters on ‘Library Lighting’ which is helping me light my library correctly and ‘The Art of the Bookshelf’. And there is so much more - bookplates, bookbinders, and conservationists.. My special chapter explains all about library ladders with a ‘portrait’ of family-owned, Putnam & Co., located at 32 Howard Street on lower Manhattan where it has been for 60 years which has clients all over the world. This book explains in layman’s language how to complete a home library. It even has a directory list at the end of the book to aid the individual in any area that is troublesome.
This is a beautiful, informative, and fascinating book for any bibliophile. 5+ stars.
This is a beautiful, informative, and fascinating book for any bibliophile. 5+ stars.
January 8, 2025
"When you are growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully- the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you."
Keith Richards
Keith Richards
February 22, 2025
Well I couldn't help myself, more book porn!!!!! 🤭🤭
This beautifully presented coffee table style book is chock full of gorgeous glossy photographs of private libraries around the world. Yes, admittedly most of them belong to very rich people with millions in the bank and second homes aplenty, but do you know what, who cares?!! I'm just here for the books books and more books. What is great about this assortment by Ellis et al, are the stories behind the libraries. Rich or not, the library owners have some great back stories about how their libraries started and accumulated over time. Piles in the corners of rooms, tables made of stacks of books, reading alcoves, trolleys and carrels by bedsides, it's all in there.
I loved this. It's a bibliophile's wet dream!! 5 stars from me.
This beautifully presented coffee table style book is chock full of gorgeous glossy photographs of private libraries around the world. Yes, admittedly most of them belong to very rich people with millions in the bank and second homes aplenty, but do you know what, who cares?!! I'm just here for the books books and more books. What is great about this assortment by Ellis et al, are the stories behind the libraries. Rich or not, the library owners have some great back stories about how their libraries started and accumulated over time. Piles in the corners of rooms, tables made of stacks of books, reading alcoves, trolleys and carrels by bedsides, it's all in there.
I loved this. It's a bibliophile's wet dream!! 5 stars from me.
February 15, 2025
If ever there was a book for me to give five stars to (and there are plenty) this one must surely top the list; it is magnificent both textually and illustrative wise. And if for no other reason than when reading the lengthy and fascinating introduction, I felt sure that the authors had visited my house! That came about when I read, 'Book people want their books where they can get to them, which is everywhere - close by and accessible. They may be piled or arranged on tables, pyramided on chairs, within arm's reach of the bed, or concealed behind screens. Towering stacks of books may rise up off the floor, creating a "bookscape" environment for the contemporary reader.' Honestly they must have been here!
That introduction sets the scene admirably for what is to follow, which is a survey of various collectors, mostly higher profile figures with no ordinary collections featured (which could be said to be something lacking in the volume) their likes and dislikes, their reasons for collecting, how they house their books and each with some great photographs of how their library is set up. To complement these views there are sections on English Country House libraries, Hay-on-Wye as a booktown (my favourite haunt but I believe not quite as good now as in my heyday of buying), How to organise your library - do we need such advice I wonder because everyone has their own thoughts on how to do so - How to start a collection - possibly good for the new collector -, library lighting, The art of the bookshelf, bookplates - as a collector of these I particularly enjoyed this section - book binders and conservationists - and I am one of the latter in a minor way as I spend inordinate hours repairing books that need tlc - the enemies of books - not the Hitler-type but those nasty little creepies that can get around them along with damp etc - library ladders - and there are apparently specialist sup[pliers of such - great libraries and finally a brief directory of some rare and antiquarian booksellers.
But back to that insightful introduction with which I can truly empathise. Having told us 'Some are serious collectors, searching out an early Gutenberg ...', it continues, 'There is also the collector who collects simply for pleasure' - aren't most of us in that category? -, adding 'without rhyme or reason'. I find this difficult to relate to for whatever I purchase there is some rhyme or reason behind it and I suspect that applies to most book collectors.
I perhaps fit into the next classification that is mentioned, 'Then there are collectors who are simply readers, people who amass books to read and then keep them afterward, regarding them as treasures that continue to glow with the hidden magic of their art.' I am not too keen on the word 'amass' because that possibly suggests that they are collected just to have plenty rather than to collect them to be read, whilst admitting that I cannot possibly read all that I have unless I live to be something like 748! Thank goodness, that statement is added to be the addition of 'That includes most of us'. Yes, thank goodness!
It is an absolutely marvellous book, with such splendid illustrations, even if many of them do belong to the more exclusive libraries of the rich and famous, and it is a book that I could so easily have started again once I had turned the final page. No doubt I will read it again and probably browse it often as well because there is always something extra to spot in each of the illustrations, even if it is just trying to read the titles of what are on the owners' shelves!
To paraphrase Prospero in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' I do feel 'my library is dukedom large enough' - well it's the nearest I am going to get to a dukedom anyway!
That introduction sets the scene admirably for what is to follow, which is a survey of various collectors, mostly higher profile figures with no ordinary collections featured (which could be said to be something lacking in the volume) their likes and dislikes, their reasons for collecting, how they house their books and each with some great photographs of how their library is set up. To complement these views there are sections on English Country House libraries, Hay-on-Wye as a booktown (my favourite haunt but I believe not quite as good now as in my heyday of buying), How to organise your library - do we need such advice I wonder because everyone has their own thoughts on how to do so - How to start a collection - possibly good for the new collector -, library lighting, The art of the bookshelf, bookplates - as a collector of these I particularly enjoyed this section - book binders and conservationists - and I am one of the latter in a minor way as I spend inordinate hours repairing books that need tlc - the enemies of books - not the Hitler-type but those nasty little creepies that can get around them along with damp etc - library ladders - and there are apparently specialist sup[pliers of such - great libraries and finally a brief directory of some rare and antiquarian booksellers.
But back to that insightful introduction with which I can truly empathise. Having told us 'Some are serious collectors, searching out an early Gutenberg ...', it continues, 'There is also the collector who collects simply for pleasure' - aren't most of us in that category? -, adding 'without rhyme or reason'. I find this difficult to relate to for whatever I purchase there is some rhyme or reason behind it and I suspect that applies to most book collectors.
I perhaps fit into the next classification that is mentioned, 'Then there are collectors who are simply readers, people who amass books to read and then keep them afterward, regarding them as treasures that continue to glow with the hidden magic of their art.' I am not too keen on the word 'amass' because that possibly suggests that they are collected just to have plenty rather than to collect them to be read, whilst admitting that I cannot possibly read all that I have unless I live to be something like 748! Thank goodness, that statement is added to be the addition of 'That includes most of us'. Yes, thank goodness!
It is an absolutely marvellous book, with such splendid illustrations, even if many of them do belong to the more exclusive libraries of the rich and famous, and it is a book that I could so easily have started again once I had turned the final page. No doubt I will read it again and probably browse it often as well because there is always something extra to spot in each of the illustrations, even if it is just trying to read the titles of what are on the owners' shelves!
To paraphrase Prospero in Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' I do feel 'my library is dukedom large enough' - well it's the nearest I am going to get to a dukedom anyway!
March 16, 2011
I have curbed my willy-nilly library borrowing to focus instead on reading books from my wishlist. I have started with my oldest wishlist books first. Many of these early ones I no longer remember why I wanted to read them in the first place. At Home with Books by Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm is an exception to that rule.
In fact I remember perfectly where I learned about the book; Bookcrossing. I was a fairly new member and read about it in the Book Talk forum. The book sounded fascinating, especially to someone who just gone through the fourth move in short succession and who no longer had a good clear idea which books were in my personal library.
At Home with Books is a coffee table book that looks at a select group of large personal libraries. These are libraries of people who can afford to have a lot of books, displayed beautifully. These aren't libraries like mine or like people I know where books are stacked two and three thick on shelves, are stuffed in boxes under the stairs, are under beds and in dresser drawers.
These are libraries where someone has decided on a theme; like the one that is devoted only to New York books. Each book is labeled and catalogued and different subjects are in different rooms. But the whole library itself is only about New York.
While I found the photographs gorgeous to look at and some of the stories fascinating, the overall effect of the book was overwhelming. After awhile the book got to be too much and I believe it or not, I felt like my library was inadequate. Sure I've catalogued my entire family library, but there isn't a central theme (beyond we like these books) and they aren't shelved with specific call numbers. Nor are our books in perfect shape or especially rare or unique. They are old, new, dog eared, and odd ball.
In fact I remember perfectly where I learned about the book; Bookcrossing. I was a fairly new member and read about it in the Book Talk forum. The book sounded fascinating, especially to someone who just gone through the fourth move in short succession and who no longer had a good clear idea which books were in my personal library.
At Home with Books is a coffee table book that looks at a select group of large personal libraries. These are libraries of people who can afford to have a lot of books, displayed beautifully. These aren't libraries like mine or like people I know where books are stacked two and three thick on shelves, are stuffed in boxes under the stairs, are under beds and in dresser drawers.
These are libraries where someone has decided on a theme; like the one that is devoted only to New York books. Each book is labeled and catalogued and different subjects are in different rooms. But the whole library itself is only about New York.
While I found the photographs gorgeous to look at and some of the stories fascinating, the overall effect of the book was overwhelming. After awhile the book got to be too much and I believe it or not, I felt like my library was inadequate. Sure I've catalogued my entire family library, but there isn't a central theme (beyond we like these books) and they aren't shelved with specific call numbers. Nor are our books in perfect shape or especially rare or unique. They are old, new, dog eared, and odd ball.
January 11, 2017
This is one of those wonderful coffee table books with gorgeous photographs that you spend half your time drooling over. The book provides a truly fascinating look into the personal libraries of 20+ well-known individuals with very deep pockets and a love for books. Portions of the book provide the reader with practical advice on books, personal libraries, caring for books and collecting. Definitely a when-the-sky's-the-limit kind of book experience.
October 20, 2008
Fun book to look at and dream about! Shows many homes of devoted bibliophiles and how they arrange their book collections throughout their sumptuous abodes. Great for a cozy winter afternoon's perusing...
February 25, 2008
This is a gorgeous book. I would have liked to see more average homes of book collectors. I know they are out there.
February 2, 2018
Unlike some of the other books on peoples libraries this book is useful, really useful.
While reading this I ordered a couple of cans of the de-aciding spray... IT WORKED! It was effective in de-yellowing the pages of an old book, a book about personal libraries that works.
Highly recommended
While reading this I ordered a couple of cans of the de-aciding spray... IT WORKED! It was effective in de-yellowing the pages of an old book, a book about personal libraries that works.
Highly recommended
April 10, 2010
An oversized book with lovely pictures of quite hoity-toity home libraries. I enjoyed reading about the owners of these books, but wished there were more "normal" collections included. I found the short chapters on book organizing quite useful.
May 11, 2019
"Why do we feel so passionate about books, and why do we accumulate them in a seemingly uncontrollable fashion throughout our lives? Our libraries express something more than learning - they link us with the past, present, and future in a way that is portable, affordable, and aesthetically pleasurable. As Barbara Tuchman wrote, "Without books, history is silent literature dumb, science crippled, thought and speculation at a standstill." This is a beautiful book about books!!! Features lovely photographs of private libraries from around the world, book tourist spots around the world (villages dedicated to books readers), , advice for caring for books, such as bookbinding, shelving, lighting, and preservation. Loved the term bookscapes - arrangement of books, whether on shelves, on tables, on the floor, etc...
Here are a few quotes I liked from the book collectors featured:
"Dispensary to the Soul." - Library inscription in Trajan's Forum, Rome
"I could spend a lifetime in this room and not be bored." - Victor Niederhoffer, Broker whose father loved books and when the father died, his funeral was attended by five librarians who remembered him fondly for his love of books!
"If I were blind, I would still take pleasure in holding a beautiful book." -Sylvester De Sarcy
"Library as Theater." - Renzo Mongiardino
"Books do furnish a room." - Thomas Britt, interior designer
"Books are central to our life. The library is the heart of our house." -Michelle Oka Doner
"I would never have a room without books. They're a transforming element." -Timothy Mawson
"Books, like Wine, need to be kept at a regular, unfluctuating temperature." -Paul Getty, who has a temperature controlled castlelike folly attached to main house in Oxfordshire, England to house his personal library.
"All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been is lying as in magical preservation in the pages of books." -Thomas Carlyle
"Designing a library is one of the grandest things you can do." -Michael Graves
"Books are a passion for me. Books change people's lives." -Bill Blass who donated $10 million to the New York Public Library
"A bibliomaniac is one to whom books are like bottles of whiskey to the inebriate, to whom anything that is between covers has an intoxicating savor." -Sir Hugh Walpole
"Books give a room a personal stamp." -Niall Smith
"Your books are your personal history. You are what you read." -Peter Cannell
"After a life on the road, reading anchors me." - Keith Richards, Rolling Stones
"It is a terrible thing to have educated eyes but a depleted bank account." -Michael and Aileen Casey
Philosophy = "love of wisdom"
"Books are like works of art. You enjoy them, you're their guardians for a while, you're aware that other people have owned and enjoyed them for a short time, and then they are passed on." -Therese and Erwin Harris
Here are a few quotes I liked from the book collectors featured:
"Dispensary to the Soul." - Library inscription in Trajan's Forum, Rome
"I could spend a lifetime in this room and not be bored." - Victor Niederhoffer, Broker whose father loved books and when the father died, his funeral was attended by five librarians who remembered him fondly for his love of books!
"If I were blind, I would still take pleasure in holding a beautiful book." -Sylvester De Sarcy
"Library as Theater." - Renzo Mongiardino
"Books do furnish a room." - Thomas Britt, interior designer
"Books are central to our life. The library is the heart of our house." -Michelle Oka Doner
"I would never have a room without books. They're a transforming element." -Timothy Mawson
"Books, like Wine, need to be kept at a regular, unfluctuating temperature." -Paul Getty, who has a temperature controlled castlelike folly attached to main house in Oxfordshire, England to house his personal library.
"All that Mankind has done, thought, gained or been is lying as in magical preservation in the pages of books." -Thomas Carlyle
"Designing a library is one of the grandest things you can do." -Michael Graves
"Books are a passion for me. Books change people's lives." -Bill Blass who donated $10 million to the New York Public Library
"A bibliomaniac is one to whom books are like bottles of whiskey to the inebriate, to whom anything that is between covers has an intoxicating savor." -Sir Hugh Walpole
"Books give a room a personal stamp." -Niall Smith
"Your books are your personal history. You are what you read." -Peter Cannell
"After a life on the road, reading anchors me." - Keith Richards, Rolling Stones
"It is a terrible thing to have educated eyes but a depleted bank account." -Michael and Aileen Casey
Philosophy = "love of wisdom"
"Books are like works of art. You enjoy them, you're their guardians for a while, you're aware that other people have owned and enjoyed them for a short time, and then they are passed on." -Therese and Erwin Harris
May 6, 2019
Well, it does have a picture of Keith Richards in his library... my full review (and picture) is here: http://patricksherriff.com/2019/05/07...
June 5, 2017
This is a wonderful book all about how different book lovers and designers organize and display their collections. There are also small articles interspersed throughout the book, all about different topics of interest to the avid reader: choosing library ladders, sorting books, designing shelving, et al.
The pictures do look a bit dated and overly yellow-cast in the copy of the book I was reading, but they still evoke the sense of grandeur and coziness that only libraries can provide. One of my favorites is Keith Richard's library, with the accompanying quote: “When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.”
The pictures do look a bit dated and overly yellow-cast in the copy of the book I was reading, but they still evoke the sense of grandeur and coziness that only libraries can provide. One of my favorites is Keith Richard's library, with the accompanying quote: “When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.”
November 26, 2018
A visual delight!
November 26, 2023
Good reference for building out my library at home - this will come in handy
December 15, 2008
I am still reading this book (or maybe better said, wandering in its meadows and grazing lazily), but I decided to rate it anyway since I already know how I feel about it. I'm sure I'll keep renewing it from the library until the limit hits.
This is a very personal preference, I'm sure, but I'm in heaven when I read a book about books and book lovers who have created shrine libraries for their books. No, I'm kidding, they don't literally worship the books, but I covet, covet, covet the libraries I see and the books that are photographed. It's like eating chocolate while wrapped in a warm blanket. The book is oversized, and filled with lovely photos of warm and cozy libraries, with side tidbits on book care and collecting and etc, etc, etc. This is on my list to add to my own living room someday. I wonder if there are more of its kind...
To each his own!
This is a very personal preference, I'm sure, but I'm in heaven when I read a book about books and book lovers who have created shrine libraries for their books. No, I'm kidding, they don't literally worship the books, but I covet, covet, covet the libraries I see and the books that are photographed. It's like eating chocolate while wrapped in a warm blanket. The book is oversized, and filled with lovely photos of warm and cozy libraries, with side tidbits on book care and collecting and etc, etc, etc. This is on my list to add to my own living room someday. I wonder if there are more of its kind...
To each his own!
October 14, 2011
Keith Richards might have just become my favorite Stone because of this book.
March 12, 2024
When this book was first published, it was far too expensive for me to buy. I saw it on display in the beautiful original Borders Books building in Ann Arbor, if I remember correctly, and thought it was interesting but far beyond my means. US$50.00 was an enormous amount of money in 1989, and I was then still a teen-ager whose extremely limited financial resources were absurdly unequal to the challenge of accommodating my addiction to books and music (not to mention cigarettes and booze!). I have always had fairly expensive tastes anyway, despite living mostly in more-or-less dire poverty. Many people in those days commented on what they considered an insane habit on my part of buying four pints of Guinness Extra Stout (or a six-pack of Dragon Stout) rather than a half-case of Busch (or even more of something worse) for essentially the same amount of money. I actually came out ahead sometimes on the cigarettes in those days though, as I switched in late 1989 from smoking mostly Lucky Strike shorts with an occasional pack of Chesterfield Kings thrown in to precisely the reverse, which meant I was not only paying less money for more cigarette but also that people were even less likely to bum smokes from me than they already had been, hahaha...
My late friend Cranford Nix recorded a song right around that time entitled 'Mother Fuckin' Blues', the lyrics of which say (in part) "all I need, honey, are cigarettes and booze/and to get rid of these mother fuckin' blues". What may well have been true in Cranford's case was definitely not true in mine, and one of the reasons he could get away with 'Traveling Light', so to speak, was that he had friends like me who were inveterate pack-rats living in generously-proportioned but inexpensive pre-war apartments in "the ghetto", surrounded by scarred and broken antique furniture dragged in from the alley, piles of old books & records from the gutter, and with the cracked hard-plaster walls adorned with a bizarre assortment of old movie posters, black & white photos of jazz musicians, prints of famous paintings salvaged out of disintegrated art books from a garbage dumpster, punk rock fliers, found objects (like old store advertising materials) and what one might somewhat generously describe as "folk art".
I have mentioned elsewhere on Goodreads that my wife and I are longtime readers of 'Elle Decor', a magazine which almost unbelieveably has survived all the way to this writing (March 2024). They even have their own web-page now, which is somewhat remarkable since, until recently, the only mention of the title on the Condé Nast web-site was a small footnote at the bottom of the page devoted to 'Elle' magazine. While 'Elle Decor' has always primarily covered what might be described as "conventional" (though nearly always artful) interior design and decoration, there has always been a small but notable amount of coverage devoted to what most people would probably regard as the eclectic style of wealthy eccentrics. Anyone familiar with the magazine will no doubt understand exactly what I am referring to, but for everyone else- think kaleidascopically multi-coloured spaces stuffed with too many books, beautiful but mis-matched furniture, objets d'art, knick-knacks and bric-à-brac. This book is very much like a gigantic hard-bound version of what one might imagine would be the result if the editors of 'Elle Decor' decided to publish an issue focused on libraries.
It might seem as if I am damning this book with faint praise, so to speak. I am not. This is an amazing book which is absolutely fascinating for many reasons. Not least of those reasons is that it will tend to make even the most out-of-control bibliomaniacs feel better about their addiction to books! There is much in this book that would be of interest to anyone with an interest in the history of libraries, publishing, book-binding and more; not to mention interior design and decoration, antique furniture and the visual arts generally. There is very nearly something here for everyone, although that is at this point a ridiculously over-used cliché. Perhaps one of the best things in this book is the extensive resource guide at the end; it is limited and now quite dated given the nearly three decades since its publication, but surprisingly useful despite that. In addition, of course, this is a traditional "coffee-table book", and an attractive one at that- it is still absolutely fit for purpose in that regard.
I would most certainly recommend this book highly and without reservation...
"I'm not shy, baby, I'm not proud
I'm not sexy but I'm fuckin' loud
I'm everything that I wanna be
Don't have nothin' but at least I'm free...
It doesn't matter, babe, where I end up
Fuckin' in a limo or a pick-up truck
Either way, baby, I'll be drunk
And I don't really give a fuck.
I don't need no money, honey
I don't need no car
I don't need no whores waitin' at the bar
All I need, honey, are cigarettes and booze
And to get rid of these mother fuckin' blues!"
- Cranford Nix, 1989
My late friend Cranford Nix recorded a song right around that time entitled 'Mother Fuckin' Blues', the lyrics of which say (in part) "all I need, honey, are cigarettes and booze/and to get rid of these mother fuckin' blues". What may well have been true in Cranford's case was definitely not true in mine, and one of the reasons he could get away with 'Traveling Light', so to speak, was that he had friends like me who were inveterate pack-rats living in generously-proportioned but inexpensive pre-war apartments in "the ghetto", surrounded by scarred and broken antique furniture dragged in from the alley, piles of old books & records from the gutter, and with the cracked hard-plaster walls adorned with a bizarre assortment of old movie posters, black & white photos of jazz musicians, prints of famous paintings salvaged out of disintegrated art books from a garbage dumpster, punk rock fliers, found objects (like old store advertising materials) and what one might somewhat generously describe as "folk art".
I have mentioned elsewhere on Goodreads that my wife and I are longtime readers of 'Elle Decor', a magazine which almost unbelieveably has survived all the way to this writing (March 2024). They even have their own web-page now, which is somewhat remarkable since, until recently, the only mention of the title on the Condé Nast web-site was a small footnote at the bottom of the page devoted to 'Elle' magazine. While 'Elle Decor' has always primarily covered what might be described as "conventional" (though nearly always artful) interior design and decoration, there has always been a small but notable amount of coverage devoted to what most people would probably regard as the eclectic style of wealthy eccentrics. Anyone familiar with the magazine will no doubt understand exactly what I am referring to, but for everyone else- think kaleidascopically multi-coloured spaces stuffed with too many books, beautiful but mis-matched furniture, objets d'art, knick-knacks and bric-à-brac. This book is very much like a gigantic hard-bound version of what one might imagine would be the result if the editors of 'Elle Decor' decided to publish an issue focused on libraries.
It might seem as if I am damning this book with faint praise, so to speak. I am not. This is an amazing book which is absolutely fascinating for many reasons. Not least of those reasons is that it will tend to make even the most out-of-control bibliomaniacs feel better about their addiction to books! There is much in this book that would be of interest to anyone with an interest in the history of libraries, publishing, book-binding and more; not to mention interior design and decoration, antique furniture and the visual arts generally. There is very nearly something here for everyone, although that is at this point a ridiculously over-used cliché. Perhaps one of the best things in this book is the extensive resource guide at the end; it is limited and now quite dated given the nearly three decades since its publication, but surprisingly useful despite that. In addition, of course, this is a traditional "coffee-table book", and an attractive one at that- it is still absolutely fit for purpose in that regard.
I would most certainly recommend this book highly and without reservation...
"I'm not shy, baby, I'm not proud
I'm not sexy but I'm fuckin' loud
I'm everything that I wanna be
Don't have nothin' but at least I'm free...
It doesn't matter, babe, where I end up
Fuckin' in a limo or a pick-up truck
Either way, baby, I'll be drunk
And I don't really give a fuck.
I don't need no money, honey
I don't need no car
I don't need no whores waitin' at the bar
All I need, honey, are cigarettes and booze
And to get rid of these mother fuckin' blues!"
- Cranford Nix, 1989
November 26, 2020
Fair Warning: Even though we're all booklovers here, this book will incite jealousy xD.
I loved it, also am just a little bit jealous. I've visited many national and public libraries over the years, seen quite a few personal libraries as well. The personal libraries described in this book are far far extravagant and luxurious in comparison. Rather, there's hardly a comparison to be made in some cases. The closest is either my dad's own library or probably my close friend's one.
This book does appreciate our love for books, whether reading them or stacking up for a decade of pleasant readings all the while creating a comfy and peaceful reading area for us booklovers. Hopefully, if I live long enough (and if my mum doesn't donate my books xD), I'll be able to create my own exuberant library :") chances look slim, but here's to hope 🥂
Wishing you all a pleasant read.
I loved it, also am just a little bit jealous. I've visited many national and public libraries over the years, seen quite a few personal libraries as well. The personal libraries described in this book are far far extravagant and luxurious in comparison. Rather, there's hardly a comparison to be made in some cases. The closest is either my dad's own library or probably my close friend's one.
This book does appreciate our love for books, whether reading them or stacking up for a decade of pleasant readings all the while creating a comfy and peaceful reading area for us booklovers. Hopefully, if I live long enough (and if my mum doesn't donate my books xD), I'll be able to create my own exuberant library :") chances look slim, but here's to hope 🥂
Wishing you all a pleasant read.
September 18, 2021
A picture book of many wonderful famous personal libraries (about 40). Many suggestions on how to make your personal library your own. There is a resource directory at the end of this masterful tome which appears that it will be useful.
I am a bookaholic, I like books, I LIKE others that like books - I would love to spend years browsing these libraries and talking to their owners. My personal library of over 10,000 books is one of the books that I like or have studied; it is an impressive collection of 78 bookshelves and many boxes organized by the author. It is not a pretty collection being mostly pulp paperbacks but they are books I love and care about.
I am a bookaholic, I like books, I LIKE others that like books - I would love to spend years browsing these libraries and talking to their owners. My personal library of over 10,000 books is one of the books that I like or have studied; it is an impressive collection of 78 bookshelves and many boxes organized by the author. It is not a pretty collection being mostly pulp paperbacks but they are books I love and care about.
May 11, 2018
This book is about specific book lovers. Therefore, it wasn't what I was expecting it to be about.
September 25, 2016
I will be the first to admit that I read books sometimes as aspirational reading. As someone who greatly loves books and has far too many of them, this sort of book presents where I would like to be in the future. As a book that combines a love of books with interior design [1], this volume has a lot to offer to readers. It also has a fairly obvious audience--namely people who love books and who are intrigued about how best to live with them and, if they are more showy and less private than some of us, show them off to others. As someone who is interested in both interior design and in books, although I do not consider myself particularly proficient in that part of the design arts, I found the book to be immensely lovely, and likely anyone else who loves both books and interior design would likewise find much of interest here as well. And this book does not disappoint, being excellent in both its words as well as in its images, of which there are plenty of both.
The roughly 250 oversize pages of this book are divided into seven sections with occasional other material. After a short introduction to the book, the authors show 40 homes of cultural elites, some of them well known--Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, the Duke of Devonshire, Paul Getty among them--and some of them more obscure. The home libraries in question are divided into six sections--the grand passion, beautiful bookscapes, designer stacks, wall-to-wall books, literary lairs, and private pleasures--based on their artistic and design principles. Some of the people involved paint their books to make visual statements, others are clever in terms of how the books are organized, some people are involved in book publishing or book-selling or collect certain genres or have worked hard to create book-friendly homes in unfriendly environments like Florida. The seventh section of the book consists of a resource directory that includes rare book dealers/shops, book fairs, bookbinders/restorers, providers of book furnishings and lighting, as well as comments on suppliers of various book ephemera and a listing of the great libraries of the world. Intermixed with the various sections are brief discussions of English country house libraries, the town of Hay-on-Wye, how to organize one's library and start a collection, lighting and the art of the bookshelf, bookplates and conservationists, the enemies of books as well as ladders, and so on. For book lovers who either have aspirations or the reality of having their own libraries to deal with, this book has a lot of worthwhile content.
The urge to collect is strong in many of us. Books are items that are rather talismanic about the people who have them. Someone can, for example, understand a great deal by looking at the books that are in my collection, including my fondness for military history, my love of beautiful art, my reflections on politics and philosophy and religion, my love of music, my concern about biographies and memoirs, and much more besides. As reading is usually a fairly solitary activity, it is often difficult to know the community that one is a part of as a bibliophile. In places where I have lived, one is made to feel a bit odd for liking books as much as I have, and to see the love that so many people of great wealth and power and influence have in books is a source of great comfort when one considers the far worse ways that one could be spending than reading and collecting great books. In a somewhat ironic but appropriate way, this book about books is itself a worthy book to collect for those who enjoy reading for substance as well as appreciating the beauty of books and the need to ensure good lighting for one's efforts, lest one ruin their eyes as I have.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
The roughly 250 oversize pages of this book are divided into seven sections with occasional other material. After a short introduction to the book, the authors show 40 homes of cultural elites, some of them well known--Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, the Duke of Devonshire, Paul Getty among them--and some of them more obscure. The home libraries in question are divided into six sections--the grand passion, beautiful bookscapes, designer stacks, wall-to-wall books, literary lairs, and private pleasures--based on their artistic and design principles. Some of the people involved paint their books to make visual statements, others are clever in terms of how the books are organized, some people are involved in book publishing or book-selling or collect certain genres or have worked hard to create book-friendly homes in unfriendly environments like Florida. The seventh section of the book consists of a resource directory that includes rare book dealers/shops, book fairs, bookbinders/restorers, providers of book furnishings and lighting, as well as comments on suppliers of various book ephemera and a listing of the great libraries of the world. Intermixed with the various sections are brief discussions of English country house libraries, the town of Hay-on-Wye, how to organize one's library and start a collection, lighting and the art of the bookshelf, bookplates and conservationists, the enemies of books as well as ladders, and so on. For book lovers who either have aspirations or the reality of having their own libraries to deal with, this book has a lot of worthwhile content.
The urge to collect is strong in many of us. Books are items that are rather talismanic about the people who have them. Someone can, for example, understand a great deal by looking at the books that are in my collection, including my fondness for military history, my love of beautiful art, my reflections on politics and philosophy and religion, my love of music, my concern about biographies and memoirs, and much more besides. As reading is usually a fairly solitary activity, it is often difficult to know the community that one is a part of as a bibliophile. In places where I have lived, one is made to feel a bit odd for liking books as much as I have, and to see the love that so many people of great wealth and power and influence have in books is a source of great comfort when one considers the far worse ways that one could be spending than reading and collecting great books. In a somewhat ironic but appropriate way, this book about books is itself a worthy book to collect for those who enjoy reading for substance as well as appreciating the beauty of books and the need to ensure good lighting for one's efforts, lest one ruin their eyes as I have.
[1] See, for example:
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress...
November 16, 2018
Part photography coffee table book of personal, large-scale libraries of collectors; descriptions of some of their unusual collections and approaches and part a commentary and miscellany on private and some public libraries, book repair and book buying lists and paper/pen/lighting/furniture and assorted sources, this was an over-sized book for book lovers. The appeal of various photos and collector descriptions was mixed for me; some felt pretentious or cold or too chaotically cluttered while others I would have happily sat in for days and felt cozy among the overflow of stacks and shelves. Overall, I found this intriguing for its peak into the fancies of fellow book lovers and their eclectic approach to acquiring and maintaining their love for the written, physically bound, word.
January 23, 2025
Nogle smukke interiører, men samlet mere en bog om bogsnobber end om bøger og deres rum.
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