Decorative Plates

It’s been awhile since we last posted something on the theme of the decorative arts, so I’m happy to have found this book—especially because it was mis-shelved in the stacks! This book is House and Garden’s Book of Color Schemes, which contains “over two hundred color schemes and three hundred illustrations of halls, living rooms, dining rooms, bed chambers, sun rooms, roofs, garden rooms, kitchens and baths; the characteristic colors of each decorative period; how to select a color scheme, with unusual treatments for painted furniture and floors; a portfolio of crystal rooms and eight pages of unusual interiors in color.” It was edited by long-time editor of House & Garden Richardson Wright (1887-1961) and Margaret McElroy, associate editor, and published by Condé Nast Publications, Inc. in 1929.

The book includes a large number of photographs of rooms, however, they are mostly in black and white—an unfortunate thing for a book about color! The promised eight color illustrations of rooms are not all present in our copy, but the five that are still in the book are shown here, alongside some of their black and white compatriots. I especially love the one titled “Tawny Yellow in Variety” that features a shocking amount of leopard print.

If you’ve read any of the posts I usually write, you know that I love a good binding—this one is a publisher’s binding in a chartreuse-y yellow book cloth with art deco-style silver tooling featuring stars and leaves. Somebody took it upon themselves to write the publication date on the cover above the title—how thoughtful!

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– Alice, Special Collections Department Manager