There is no Frigate like a Book « The Irish Aesthete

Visit the Armagh Robinson Library!

Click on the photo or link below to see splendid “shelf shots” like those in the books reviewed in my post How to Live With Books.

There is no Frigate like a Book To take us Lands away, Nor any Coursers like a Page Of prancing Poetry – This Traverse may the poorest take Without oppress of Toll How frugal is the Chariot That be…

Source: There is no Frigate like a Book « The Irish Aesthete

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New ‘Don’t Fret’ Mural Celebrates Chicago Writers

Who are the authors that are looking over your shoulder?

Chicago Review of Books

Dozens of Chicago writers can now be found standing together, big shoulder to big shoulder, at a new branch of the Chicago Public Library system in Irving Park. In a painted mural, famous faces from the past such as Gwendolyn Brooks, Ernest Hemingway, and Richard Wright loom with equal prominence to more contemporary writers such as Kevin Coval and Eve Ewing.

Local artist Don’t Fret created the mural, drawing from his own literary inspirations as well as a few names that the library suggested. Don’t Fret has created art inspired by Chicago’s lit scene in the past — you can find his giant mural depiction of Carl Sandburg’s “Chicago” poem in the West Loop. Once you know what to look for, you can also spot his work on walls all over the city, particularly in bars along the Blue Line.

The Independence branch (and the mural) debuted on Jan. 22…

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How to Live With Books.

Living With Books: 118 Designs for Homes and Offices (Reif, 1973)

Styles may change, but the appeal of a display of bound, printed books is timeless.

The author’s treatment of the subject is topical, with chapters entitled “Around the House,” “Decorative Solutions,” “Libraries and Dens,” “Books at Work,” “Books, Hi-Fi and Art,” and “Furniture and Wall Systems.” Schematic drawings of some of the bookshelf designs are included, enabling the handyman reader (or the reader’s handyman) to construct them.

I picked up this paperback coffee table book at a college library purge sale back in the early ’90s, and despite its photography being entirely in black-and-white, have enjoyed perusing it ever since.

Living with Books (Dupuich & Beaufre, 2010)

Fast forward about 40 years, and you get the same title, different authors, and a slight variation on the theme.

This book (original title Bibliothèques, translated into English) uses a sort of biographical approach, with chapters named “Collectors,” Interior Designers,” “Designers,” “Writers,” “Fashion Designers,” “Journalists,” “Artists,” and “Grand Houses.” Unfortunately, no instructional drawings are included.

This full-color coffee table book is about twice as thick as the other one, and it features front and back flaps (that fancy, new-fangled kind of paperback cover which doesn’t serve its book-marking purpose too well, but I suppose the publishers thought they had to add something different, to make the book stand out).

The Bookworm, 1850, by Carl Spitzweg

If you fear that your bibliophilia is becoming bibliomania, the illustrations in these two volumes should put your mind at ease. Just choose to build one or more of the innovative storage concepts you see, and tame your book collection by integrating it as fully into your home, as it is a part of your heart.