XVI 



AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



April, 1913 



IN many homes, members of the house- 

 hold have individual libraries in their 

 own rooms or apartments where they can 

 store their most cherished volumes and 

 enjoy them without fear of interruption and 

 ■without interfering with the pleasure of others. The 

 Globe -Wernicke Bookcase lends itself ideally to 

 individual libraries, because its sectional construc- 

 tion adapts it equally well to large or small book 

 collections. It grows with the library and its units 

 can be rearranged quickly in any number of new 

 and artistic combinations. Exact duplicate of sec- 

 tions are always obtainable. 



Globe -Wernicke Bookcases are made in many 

 styles and finishes to suit the color scheme of dif- 

 ferent interior trims. Sold by 1500 authorized agen- 

 cies. Where not represented goods will be shipped 

 on approval, freight prepaid. 



"Booklovers* Shopping List** — This little 

 book lists the works of great authors and 

 gives the prices of the same in sets. The list 

 includes the low priced, popular sets as well 

 as the de luxe editions. Every book buyer 

 should have a copy. Sent free with the 

 Globe- Wernicke catalog. Address Dept. A.H. 



arte stota~*wermeKc G<\ 



Branch Stores : New York, 380-382 Broadway : Philadel- 

 phia, 1012-1014 Chestnut St. ; Chicago, 231-235 So. Wabash Ave. ; 

 Boston, 91-93 Federal St. ; Washington, 1218-1220 b St., N.W. ; 

 Cincinnati, 128-134 Fourth Ave., E._ 



Cincinnati 

 Ohio 



Commonwealth Hotel 



Opposite State House, Boston, Mass. 

 STORER F. CRAFTS, General Manager 



offers rooms with hot and cold water for $1 .00 

 per day and up, which includes free use of 

 Public shower baths. Nothing to equal this 

 in New England. Rooms with private baths 

 for $1 .50 per day and up, suites of two rooms 

 and bath for $4.00 per day and up. Dining 

 rooms and cafe first class. European plan. 



ABSOLUTELY FIREPROOF 

 Strictly A Temperance Hotel 



Send for Booklet 

 COMMONWEALTH HOTEL, Inc. 



THE EVOLUTION OF WALL-PAPER 



THE idea of adorning walls with paper 

 appears to have originated in China, 

 where it was so employed as early as the 

 fourth century, says Harper's Weekly. 

 It seems to have remained unknown to 

 Western nations until the sixteenth cen- 

 tury, when Holland, at the height of her 

 naval supremacy, borrowed the notion 

 from the Chinese and introduced it to the 

 rest of Europe. 



In China the first wall-papers were 

 printed from blocks, painted by hand, and 

 stamped with great seals. Modern in- 

 genuity provided rolls of such paper 

 showing a continuous duplicate of design 

 quite unknown to the Celestials. 



Until the end of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury the imported product was well-nigh 

 prohibitive in price except for the very 

 wealthy, and it was not until the middle 

 of the eighteenth century that wall- 

 paper was a common article of commerce. 

 The first European papers were made in 

 imitation of tapestry. By the time of the 

 Stuarts the arras of Shakespeare's era 

 was beginning to disappear. 



THE STORY OF THE CRESCENT 



' ' ' I ' I IE lunar symbol of the Ottoman Em- 

 X pire, universally known as the Cres- 

 cent, is, strictly speaking, a decrescent," says 

 a writer in the Westminster Gazette, "repre- 

 senting, as it does, not the new moon, but 

 the old moon. As a national symbol it was 

 in use in Constantinople by the Byzantine 

 eighteen centuries before the Turks appro- 

 priated it and emblazoned it on their ban- 

 ners when they captured the city on the 

 Bosphorus ; and its origin is said to date 

 from B. C. 340, when a night attack on 

 ancient Byzantium by the Macedonians was 

 foiled by the light of the old and waning 

 moon. The horns of the crescent and de- 

 crescent point in opposite directions, as do 

 those of the old and new moons ; and while 

 the crescent moon increases progressively 

 to the splendor of full moon, the decrescent 

 slowly wanes to invisibility in the overpow- 

 ering light of the sun. The Turkish de- 

 crescent has been a long time waning in 

 Europe, but it is the inevitable destiny of 

 all decrescent moons to disappear." 



THE COLOR SENSE 



FEW studies, says the London Deco- 

 rator, are more fascinating than that of 

 color phenomena, but it appeals only to 

 those possessing in themselves a well-de- 

 veloped color sense, and this happens but 

 comparatively rarely. It is obviously cor- 

 rect enough to state that every decorator 

 should have a "natural eye for color," yet 

 perhaps not more than one in ten could 

 be said to have the faculty very highly de- 

 veloped. Yet the subject appeals to all, 

 and must always do so. Lafcadio Hearn, 

 writing on the subject, said: "The primi- 

 tive man's sense of color, or the sensitive- 

 ness of the retina to ether vibrations, may 

 not have been as fine as that of the Roman 

 mosaic worker, who could select his ma- 

 terials of 30,000 different tints, nor as that 

 of Gobelin weavers, who can recognize 

 28,000 different shades of wool. But the 

 evidence goes to show that the sense of 

 color is old as the gnawing of hunger or 

 the pangs of fear — old as the experience 

 that taught living creatures to discern food 

 and to flee from danger. There is, however, 

 reason to suppose, from certain develop- 

 mental phenomena observed in the eyes of 

 children and newly-born animals, that the 

 present condition of the color-sense has 

 been gradually reached — not so much in 



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PHILADELPHIA 



Important to those 

 Who expect to build 



WHEN PLANNING TO BUILD, get 



the ideas of leading architects, regard- 

 ing best design, proper interior ar- 

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 furnishings. This will aid in deciding 

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 consult your architect, and can be 

 obtained from the several hundred 

 designs beautifully illustrated in six 

 numbers of the 



Architectural Eecorir 



The National Magazine for Architects, Owners and Builders, 

 with the largest professional circulation in the field. 



In the advertising pages of these six numbers 

 are also illustrated and described numerous 

 building specialties that add much to the com- 

 fort, convenience and value of the modern 

 home, without materially increasing initial 

 cost; this information may mean saving of 

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OUR SPECIAL OFFER 



We have a limited supply of these sets of six numbers 

 invaluable to those who expect to build or make altera- 

 tions. Although regular price is $1 .50, we make ynu a 

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This $1.00 Should Save You Hundreds 



THE ARCHITECTURAL RECORD 



294 Metropolitan Annex New York 



Enclosed is $1.00. Mail six numbers (including the 

 October, 1912 COUNTRY HOUSE NUMBER) accord- 

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 GARDENS. 



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