Libraries Add Beauty To Decor

The late Billy Baldwin, the cocky, self-confident dean of American decorating, considered a wall of books a better accent than any wallpaper.

“Books are the greatest asset to any room,” Baldwin said.

If Baldwin were alive today, he would revel in the pages of “At Home With Books” (Carol Southern Books, $50). Authors Estelle Ellis and Caroline Seebohm and photographer Christopher Simon Sykes take the reader inside the literary lairs of 41 designers, artists, writers, historians, collectors and academics.

In a technology driven era when electronics seem to be replacing books, it’s reassuring to see a passion for the printed word expressed.

Ellis, who has done volunteer work for the New York Public Library and the Library of Congress, says she was overcome with the beauty of the environments these libraries create for book lovers. Her first thought was to write a book about the reading rooms of writers. The concept was refined after a lunch with Seebohm, a former editor at House & Garden and author of design and garden books.

Carol Southern, who has her own publishing imprint in the Crown Publishing Group, suggested expanding the concept to libraries of interesting people and including practical information on bookshelves, lighting, ladders, caring for books and starting a collection. The book also contains a directory of rare-book dealers and shops, book fairs, bookbinders and restorers as well as sellers of library furnishings.