114 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
February, 1906 
Principles of Home Decoration 
V.—The Philosophy of the Library 
By Joy Wheeler Dow 
HE library in a house plan is distinctly a 
luxury. It is the line of demarcation be- 
tween an inexpensive cottage and a good 
sized house, for it would be foolish in a 
small house to cut up the limited floor space 
into more than the usual four divisions com- 
prising the living-room, the dining-room, the kitchen and a 
hall or entry. Sometimes people find a jog or corner in the 
plan that can be set apart for 
a “‘den’’; but this kind of a 
den is a modern invention of 
low extraction, and some mod- 
ern inventions in the realm of 
art are false notes. During the 
eighties of the century just 
concluded, somebody building 
a house must have fancied 
himself the reincarnation of 
a wild beast—there are people 
who entertain similar halluci- 
nations—and thus was evolved 
the “den.” It was a unique 
idea, and soon every new 
American dwelling house 
erected was extremely liable to 
savor that much of a zo- 
ological garden. But avoid 
“dens” in your home as you 
should avoid other incongrul- 
ties heretofore mentioned, such 
as Oriental cosey corners, gas 
logs, piano lamps, grilles over 
doorways and outlandish furniture. These things are the 
heritage of a certain commercial, not to say tradesman’s spirit 
in America, which, it must be deplored, lingers with us. 
Choose fewer, simpler and better things. 
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2—Here we have a Good Library Atmosphere 
Now, the library is a legitimate and altogether delightful 
apartment that every one should incorporate in his house 
plan if he can afford the cost of the extra cubic feet required. 
I am acquainted with many estimable persons, however, who 
are fond of reading books, yet who have apparently no 
desire for a private library, i. e., a separate apartment in their 
house for the safe keeping of books. That all depends upon 
the temperament, that strange equation in nature which 
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makes some men prefer the gawdy glitter of a beer garden 
to a home library in waxed oak. I will not say that this 
taste or lack of taste is abnormal in the world. It is only just 
low. Upon the other hand, I have always found the home 
library an irresistible attraction, and I 
once selected the spiritualized firelight of 
one in an old-fashioned manse to better 
illustrate that the hearts of men and the 
peace of families can best be centered 
within the alluring quiet of the library 
hearth. 
The philosophy of the home library 
—much as we have of it in America— 
is, nevertheless, but little understood. I 
believe the stories that are told of people 
who have bought books because the bind- 
ings matched the color scheme their dec- 
orator had chosen for them. <A deliberated 
color scheme for a library, or indeed 
any homelike apartment, is heretical, 
anyway. The sine qua non for the 
maker of a successful library to possess 
is the intangible attribute of temperament, 
whereby one is affected to such an ex- 
tent by his surroundings that he feels in- 
tuitively what is right and what is 
wrong. One should cultivate the sensi- 
bilities rather than decorators. I have 
