The Decoration of Houses (The Classical America Series in Art and Architecture) - Softcover

Edith Wharton; Ogden Codman Jr.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393008401 ISBN 13: 9780393008401

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1978

Synopsis

The original text of The Decoration of Houses continues without revision as an authentic classic, perhaps the most important book of its kind ever published. Its carefully reasoned chapters on such aspects of house interiors as fireplaces, ceilings and floors, halls and stairs, are of the greatest value to professionals and serious amateurs concerned with interiors.

This expanded edition includes an introduction by Henry Hope Reed and three critical essays by John Barrington Bayley, William A. Coles, and Alvin Holm, AIA. Additions to the album of renderings and photographs of modern and contemporary work in the tradition of Wharton and Codman include a number of important works done in the last decade or so. A portfolio of color plates new to the expanded edition offers the work of such accomplished photographers as Bill Ray and Anne Day.

About this title

About the Author:

Pulitzer Prize-winning American writer and designer Edith Wharton (1862-1937) is the author of The House of Mirth, The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, The Decoration of Houses, and many other books.

Review:

Edith Wharton offers timeless design advice by Annie Groer

If novelist Edith Wharton and architect Ogden Codman Jr. had published their scholarly book, "The Decoration of Houses," today rather than 110 years ago, no doubt it would be a sumptuous coffee-table tome filled with glossy colored photos. But black-and-white sufficed nicely for this influential classic about architecture and design, which has just been faithfully reproduced from the original (Rizzoli and the Mount Press, $35). -- The Salinas Californian - Salinas Ca. May 29, 2007

"Rizzoli has returned this classic 1897 work to print in a beautifully produced facsimile edition, but despite the period charm, it deserves to be read as something more than a period piece." -- Art & Antiques

Here's a trivia question: What was Edith Wharton's first book? If you said The Decoration of Houses, you get a gold star.Originally published in 1897, Wharton's best-selling dissertation on interior esign was reproduced and re-released last month by Rizzoli. What a beautiful, if anachronistic, volume. I love Wharton's keen insights... A must for fans of Edith Wharton and Victoriana. -- Palm Beach Illustrated, June 2007

Most fans of lean, mid-century modern sofas, bark cloth draperies, and kidney-shaped coffee tables grew up with French provincial bedroom sets or baggy shabby-chic slipcovers As soon as children know enough to loathe their parents' terrible taste, they long for something completely different... The 1897 interior design classic The Decoration of Houses, now available from Rizzoli as a handsome facsimile, works on the same principle. Coauthors Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman Jr. skewered the design they'd inherited with the convivial savagery of confidants talking trash about other peoples' taste, which indeed they were. -- Preservation March April 2007

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 1978
• ISBN 10: 0393008401
• ISBN 13: 9780393008401
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204