Home Library Furniture, Wood Library Furniture

Home Library Furniture, Wood Library Furniture

One must be very careful in using the word library. A library should not be called so unless it contains a collection of books large enough to make the books the dominant note. The embryo for a library should be no less than four bookcases. From that it can grow to shelves encircling the room at the height of the fireplace mantel or ranging to eighteen inches or two feet below the ceiling, thus allowing for appropriate ornaments on top. Or, the shelves may be carried right to the ceiling, and linked to it with a fine, broad cornice.

The general color scheme of the library should be keyed to the color of the book bindings. Maroon and bottle green form a good color arrangement English chairs of oak are substantially suitable. Of course, comfortably upholstered chairs are an absolute necessity. And so are smoking stands and movable floor lamps. There should also be provided a table long enough to read at and spread manuscripts and maps upon, with a center space reserved for writing. Provide one large drawer in which to preserve maps, prints, photographs and sketches, and, on the shelves, one wide shelf for editions deluxe. The bookcases should match the woodwork of the room, which will place them in their right positions as part of the constructive background. Against them may be placed furniture, and for the sake of convenience it is better to arrange on the more reachable shelves the more readable books.

If one has not enough books to fill shelves running all around the room, a convenient arrangement 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. The grouping is decorative and convenient. When one studies or writes, there are the necessary books within reach. On the desk should be a good direct reading lamp, and beside it an easy chair.

Another adequate arrangement is to build shelves on either side of the mantel to the height of the mantel. Thereby the books are given a place, and on top is provided a wide shelf for the proper display of objects of art and interest. People who own good books usually manage to collect little mementoes whose associations justify their being given some place of honor in the library. But if one objects to this motley display, there is always the chance of selecting the best bound set in your library and putting it on the middle of the top shelf as an added decoration.

The manufactured unit system of bookcases meets a very logical demand. They can be purchased at reasonable rates, they are now being made along good lines, and they preserve books from dust and destroying mice. Moreover, one can build up his library section by section, which, incidentally, is the only way to collect books, little by little.

When seats are built on either side of a fireplace, a single shelf for books can be built in the seat back just above the line of the head. A book and a fire go together happily. The space directly below the sill of the casement window seat furnishes another convenient spot for favorites; the wide ledge is broad enough to protect the books below it from the weather.

There are several places where books should not be placed, either from a sense of fitness or because of the requirements of protection. From a decorative and utilitarian point of view, they should not be put over doors and windows ; they should not be shelved on a window ledge where dust or rain will beat upon them; they should not be placed on a mantel or on a radiator, where excess of heat will ruin the bindings.

When we first get a book, I think it a very good plan to add it to the row on either side of the library table. Thus we will more certainly read it ourselves, and will call it to the attention of the household and friends who will always know where to look for our latest acquisitions. One by one the older books can be "placed on the shelf" like old maids, dearer and toned down by age.

Let me describe to you a certain country house library I know. The walls are paneled within three feet of the ceiling in gumwood, and above is a plain, hard finish English paper. Bookcases are ranged round the room to a height of about five feet. Side fixtures and andirons are of bronze. The floors are dark red tile. Before the fireplace lies a black fur rug. An English Jacobean chintz, linen colored background and figured in ultramarine blue and mahogany color, is used at the windows and on one wing chair. The other two chairs and sofa are upholstered in plain, dark blue heavy sunfast with an undershot of mahogany color. The under-curtains are of tan English casement cloth. Against this rather somber background is the play of vari-colored bindings. It is a room to live and work in, a room of distinct personality and great dignity.

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