House & Garden 
CONDE NAST, Publisher 
RICHARDSON WRIGHT. Editor 
R. S. LEMMON, Managing Editor 
THE HOUSE AT CHRISTMAS 
E ACH month, as the forthcoming issue of 
House & Garden takes shape under our 
hands, we become absorbed in it to the 
partial exclusion of all others. It seems a living, 
personal thing, embodying with particular aptness 
the spirit of the home which we hold before us 
as an editorial ideal. This is true of every issue 
through the year, but it applies with particular 
force to the Christmas House Number. 
For Christmas is essentially a home time, a sea¬ 
son when one’s thoughts draw close about the 
blazing log fire on the hearth and the glittering 
spruce tree behind locked doors in the living room 
where the children may not even peep at the 
treasures with which its branches are laden. And 
the December issue is a home issue, filled with 
home things. 
Outstanding, of course, will be the pages of 
Christmas gift suggestions—ten of them in all. 
Games for the children there will be in abundance, 
to amuse them on stormy days or clear; gifts for 
the lady of the house, for the man, for the guest 
within their gates; gifts for the girl, for the boy, 
for the dining room, for the boudoir. And gifts 
that can’t be classified as for any particular per¬ 
son, but which will answer that old, perplexing 
question, “What shall I give?” It occurred to us 
not to let the matter stop even here, so we have 
gathered together ideas for a page on wrapping 
up Christmas parcels in ways that are attractively 
distinctive. 
The spirit of indoors is carried on by many 
other pages. Gardner Teall writes charmingly of 
old-time samplers, and to the subject of wax 
miniatures we are giving two more pages. The 
decoration of nurseries is discussed through the 
medium of an interesting set of photographs, and 
a New York sculptor’s charming apartment is 
shown in all its features. If it would not be 
giving away a secret, we would like to use up the 
rest of this space talking about Peyton Boswell’s 
article on wood blocks, but you can read that for 
yourself in a few weeks. The spirit of Christ¬ 
mas is coming upon us and we want to sur¬ 
prise you. 
One cannot enjoy these nice fireside things with¬ 
out a warm house to shut out the wind and snow, 
so the story on the why and wherefore of weather¬ 
stripping is really apropos. And just to round out 
the issue, there will be several new houses, a mill 
remodeled into a home, and several pages on gar¬ 
den walls and the things that grow within them. 
In the December issue will be an 
article on the revival of wax 
miniatures, of which this is an 
illustration 
Contents for November, 1920 . 
Cover Design by Margaret Harper 
The Spirit of the Latin . lg 
Guy Lowell, Architect 
Is “Italian” Architecture Really Italian?. 19 
Guy Lowell 
The House of Devereux Milburn, Westbury, L. I 
Peabody, Wilson & Brown, Architects 
Catalogs—and Other Things. 
Gradual Steps in the Garden. 
Peabody, Wilson & Brown, Architects 
The Ware of Thomas Whieldon, Potter. 
Gardner Teall 
Grates and Railings of Spanish Iron. 
Jesusa Alfau 
A City Backyard Garden... 
Ruth Dean 
The Cottages of California. 
Lucy Rogers 
A Mother-in-Law House. 
Peggy Nichols 
A Small Colonial House in Upper New York. 
James Dwight Baum, Architect 
Seeing Your House Before It Is Built. 
Alwyn T. Covell 
Volume XXXVIII, No. Five 
The Evolution of a House Plan. 36 
Matlack Price 
How a Decorator Works. 38 
Anita de Campi 
The Return of the Zuber Papers. 40 
A Little Portfolio of Good Interiors. 41 
Decorating the Thanksgiving Table. 44 
Mary Tucker 
American Prints and Their Uses. 46 
Peyton Boswell 
Period Designs in Musical Instruments. 47 
Charles D. Isaacson 
The Placing and Care of House Plants. 48 
G. T. Huntington 
The Growing Farms of France. 50 
To Stand Beside the Desk. 52 
The Case of the Stationary Vacuum Cleaner. S3 
Ethel R. Peyser 
Planning the Wiring for a House. 54 
M. Luckiesh 
Crops to Grow in the Cellar. 55 
Margaret McElroy 
The Gardener’s Calendar. 56 
22 
24 
25 
26 
28 
29 
30 
32 
33 
34 
Subscribers are notified that no change of address can 
be effected in less than one month. 
Copyright, 1920 , by Condc Nast & Co., Inc. 
Title House & Garden registered in U. S. Patent Office 
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY CONDE NAST & CO.. INC.. 19 WEST FORTY-FOURTH STREET, NEW YORK. CONDE NAST, PRESIDENT; FRANCIS 
L. WURZBURG, VICE-PRESIDENT; W. E. BECKERLE, TREASURER. EUROPEAN OFFICES: ROLLS HOUSE. BREAMS BLDG., LONDON, E. C.: 
PHILIPPE ORTIZ, 2 RUE EDWARD VII, PARIS. SUBSCRIPTION: $3.50 A YEAR IN THE UNITED STATES, COLONIES AND MEXICO; $4.00 IN CANADA; 
$4.50 IN FOREIGN COUNTr.IES. SINGLE COPIES, 35 CENTS. ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER AT THE POST OFFICE AT NEW YORK CITY 
