September, i p i 6 
51 
A THOUSAND AND ONE PLACES FOR BOOKS 
Chaucer’s "beddes lxeade" is an ex¬ 
cellent place for guest room books. 
Have a candle and ash tray near 
B OOKS like the Arabian Nights are always 
alluring, always holding a promise of some¬ 
thing beyond and within. Be one a wise¬ 
acre or a scatter-brain, they are things that should 
always be at hand. We enter a library in a house, 
and unconsciously we compel our minds into a 
prim mood. We make a subconscious adjustment 
of mental ostentation : we wish to appear, to our 
own intellects, appreciative of these rows upon 
rows of stately volumes. But books should be 
nearer, dearer, more familiar, something we may 
fraternize with, and have always at hand. 
Color and Rhythm 
Books should be treated not only as things of 
interest, but as decorative objects. They give 
wonderful color tones to a room. A spot of 
vivid red morocco lights up a dark corner, or a 
long line of dark blue volumes enriches and 
dignifies an unprepossessing side wall. Book 
bindings are generally mellow in tone, and the 
gilt lettering and decoration give the very note of 
luxury often needed in a room. 
Then, too, books have the quality of rhythm. 
A restful library will have the books ranged in 
the shelves with the tallest ones on either end, 
and graduating down to the middle. The line is 
long, reposeful and sweeping. This arrangement 
is preferable to a jagged edge, which annoys the 
eye by reason of its very irregularity. 
Built In and Unit Shelves 
There are in the house a thousand and one 
places where books will fit in not only with our 
scheme of life, but with our scheme of decora¬ 
tion. The obvious place for books is in the 
library and living-room, and there are many ways 
in which they may be shelved. Low bookcases, 
3' 9" high, running all the way around the 
room, are the most acceptable way to place them. 
The bookcases should match the woodwork of 
the room. The feeling is then that they are a 
part of the constructive background. Furniture 
may be placed against them, and for convenience 
then it is wiser to put into the more unreachable 
shelves the more unreadable books. A very good 
arrangement, if one has not enough books to 
go around, is to place a large reading or 
writing table against the long wall, in the 
middle, and on either side build bookcases to 
match the wood of the table. This is not only 
a convenient but a very decorative arrange¬ 
ment. If one writes or studies, at one’s arm 
length on either side are the most used books. 
A good, direct reading light should be on the 
desk, and beside it an easy chair. 
Another good arrangement is to have shelves 
built on either side of the mantel, filling up 
the space between it and the adjoining walls 
and being the same height as the mantel. Of 
course this is not always consistent with the 
height of some mantels. These low book 
shelves afford an excellent shelf at the top, 
for other objects, and generally people who 
have plenty of books have other interesting 
things, such as pottery, bronze or old brass 
pieces to range along the top. There is al¬ 
ways the chance, if the lower shelves are 
overcrowded, to put a particularly well-bound 
set on the top shelf, in the middle of the 
space, where it will be an added ornament. 
The manufactured unit system of book¬ 
cases meets a very great demand, and they 
are so cleverly and artistically contrived that 
they prove of great benefit to the book- 
AGNES FOSTER 
Order and convenience are the two rules which govern 
the use of books as decorations. Below are mentioned a 
few of the thousand and one Places to put them. For 
further facts write Information Service, House & Garden, 
440 Fourth Avenue, New York 
Above the window seat and directly below 
the sill will furnish room for a row of 
favorite volumes 
collector. Building up a library section by sec¬ 
tion, permits each new book to be properly 
housed. Made with a glass front the books do 
not get dusty and worn out, though accessible. 
Very often, when we merely rent a house or 
an apartment, we do not wish to go to the ex¬ 
pense of building in bookcases for the new ten¬ 
ant, and it is hard to move the great long shelves. 
Below is a very good, practical remedy for this 
problem. Suppose the available space is 10' long. 
Have three separate bookcases made, 40" long 
with five shelves each, the lowest one clearing 
the floor by 214". These may be nailed together 
just enough to hold them. On the top a ten-foot 
board may be nailed to the three cases. This is 
done so that the top shelf may be unbroken. In 
the front at the top a strip of moulding may be 
nailed along the entire length. The whole thing 
is then stained or painted. When we leave the 
apartment we have only to lift up the top board 
and moulding which has been lightly nailed, and 
the cases are easily moved and re-adjusted to 
another apartment. A group of one, two or three 
cases may be had in this way. 
Fireside Libraries 
When seats are built on either side of a fire¬ 
place, a single shelf of books could be built in 
just above the line of one’s head. A book and a 
fire seem to go together happily. A place for a 
built-in nook is under a casement window with 
a broad seat. This gives a little air of domes¬ 
ticity and invitation. The wide ledge is broad 
enough to protect the books below. 
There are several places where books should 
not be placed, either from a sense of fitness or 
of protection. They should not be shelved on a 
0 
BSE 
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For the porch library could be made a hanging 
shelf of wicker, bamboo or wrought iron. The 
books would add a color spot to the decorations 
Built-in fireside shelves are always 
useful and decorative. If possible, 
arrange the volumes 
window ledge where dust or rain may beat upon 
them. They should not be put on the mantel of 
a fireplace, nor on a radiator. From a decorative 
or utilitarian point of view, they should not be 
put over doors or windows. 
When we first get a book, I think a very good 
plan is to add it to the row at either end of the 
living-room table. Thus we are more certain to 
read it ourselves, and we call it to the attention 
of our household and friends, who always know 
where to look for our latest acquisition. One 
by one the older books can find their places on 
the shelves, while the new are more in evidence. 
Books in Bed 
Books should be put in the guest room, but 
they should have a proper place, and the selec¬ 
tion should be appropriate. I visit in a New 
England home, where on the bedside-table is 
arranged a pink and gold copy of Drummond’s 
Essays,_ the grandmother’s copy, calf-bound and 
gold-initialed, of the New Testament, and a small 
dictionary, bound in orange, gotten out by the 
pater familias as an advertisement of his book¬ 
binding leather. And below stairs there is a 
most exhilarating, enchanting library! 
Why shouldn’t we offer inducements * to our 
guests to intern themselves in their rooms* and 
browse through a safe and sane assetp^ldge ”o£ 
books, giving us time to go about our ’busine*^? 
In the guest room, a delightful group ‘foy'-the 
“beddes heade” could be made wtih a little sfielf 
holding an assortment of books, with short , 
“night-cap” stories, and at the end a shining brass* 
candlestick. One can read one-quarter, one-half, ■ 
or the length of the candle, but no more. In the 
man’s guest room, such an arrangement would 
be a veritable boon, but I advise a tiny, ash-tray 
at the other end of your little row of Jjopks. 
In the girl’s and boy’s rooms a nandy; boeiccase 
will have much to do with their future tastes and 
inclinations. We are apt to see that oifr pretty 
daughters have a dressing-table with a triplicate* 
mirror, but neglect the book shelves. Pin-money 
will find a way into the bookseller’s hands, and 
proportionally ideas and ideals will find a way 
into the young heads. The shelves in such rooms 
should not be maintained as a dumping ground 
for unused books from other parts of the 
house. Teach a child order in his own library. 
Stair and Porch Libraries 
In certain types of houses where the archi¬ 
tectural feeling has not to be preserved, espe¬ 
cially when the staircase is broken, panelled 
shelves may be set into the stairway and thus 
books are ready at hand. In a summer, or an 
informal house, such a scheme is especially 
feasible from every aspect. 
Left out on porches, books are subject to the 
risk of wind and rain, and many householders 
strew them with magazines. A shelf for books 
on the protected side of the piazza, against the 
side of the house, would prove both a great 
convenience and a rather interesting porch 
adjunct. If the porch furnishings are of 
wicker, a simple set of shelves in painted 
wood or wicker would go well. If placed on 
the floor, the lower part might hold magazines. 
An extremely attractive shelf is made of 
wrought iron and hung from the wall. The 
other furnishings are painted wood and 
wrought iron, and the tone against the wall 
of the brilliant books makes a decidedly pleas¬ 
ing and harmonious color spot. 
