Bookshelves: volumes speak volumes
WORDS: Melissa Davidson
"A bookshelf is as particular to its owner as are his or her clothes; a personality is stamped on a library just as a shoe is shaped by the foot." - Alan Bennett.
I love books. There’s nothing like the sight of a well-stocked bookshelf to inspire the bibliophile in me. So when a friend introduced me to the delightfully named website, bookshelfporn.com, I had to take a look. I oohed, I aahed, I drooled, I coveted. I was amazed at the creativity that went into the design of some of the bookshelves in private homes, bookshops, public libraries and museums.
I was surprised to learn that built-in bookshelves became a feature of middle-class American homes in the late 1920s as a result of a public-relations campaign launched on behalf of a struggling publishing industry. A well-stocked bookshelf was touted as a symbol of respectability, wealth and modernity.
A March 1929 edition of American Home magazine reassured home owners that the attractive display of books, regardless of their conditions, would have a pleasing effect on the eye. Private libraries become more common as homeowners were encouraged to display their reading tastes with pride.
While we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, we may permit ourselves to judge a reader by the condition of his or her bookshelf. Functional, funky or elegant, heaving with a mix of titles or holding a well-ordered collection of classics, this is one item of furniture that gives more than just a hint of its owner’s character.
The painted pine bookcases in my study may be shabby in comparison to Kostas Syrtariotis’s modish "Booktree" and Sakura Adachi’s quirky "Cave", but they're as much a part of my personality as they're an essential feature of my home.
The relationship between a bookshelf and its owner is beautifully summed up in this speech by the character Gaev in Anton Chekhov’s play The Cherry Orchard:
"Yes…it's a real thing. My dear and honoured case! I congratulate you on your existence, which has already for more than a hundred years been directed towards the bright ideals of good and justice; your silent call to productive labour hasn't grown less in the hundred years during which you've upheld virtue and faith in a better future to the generations of our race, educating us up to ideals of goodness and to the knowledge of a common consciousness."
As cultural habits and the consumption of information change, so does interior design. Today, we're more likely to invest in built-in units for TVs, DVD players and their accessories than a built-in bookshelf. Yet it's unlikely (or perhaps I just hope it is) that bookshelves will disappear from homes in the near future.
As the accoutrements of multimedia entertainment threaten to overwhelm our lounges and bedrooms, we may yet see designers and homeowners collaborating to bring back the bookshelf, to give it a place of prominence in our living space, to allow it to stand as a testament to the beauty and power of the written word in its friendliest form.
Guest blogger Melissa Davidson works in financial services, and enjoys theatre, classical music and cocktails. She's absolutely in love with books, and admits that she "gets off on bookshelf porn".
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