Ogden Codman

This book has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

Individuality in house-furnishing has seldom been more harped upon than at the present time. The cheap originality which finds expression in putting things to uses for which they were not intended is often confounded with individuality; whereas the latter consists not in an attempt to be different from other people at the cost of comfort, but in the desire to be comfortable in one's own way, even though it be the way of a monotonously large majority. It seems easier to most people to arrange a room like some one else's than to analyze and express their own needs. -from Chapter II: "Rooms in General" This classic 1898 manual of interior design is considered a standard reference of the art, and perfectly useful more than a century later. Here, renowned American architect OGDEN CODMAN, JR. (1863-1951) is joined by American author EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937), whose novels, including The House of Mirth (1905) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence (1920), took us into the wealthy-and tasteful-New York society she hailed from. Together, they offer timeless advice on such matters as: - the importance of balance and symmetry - how to avoid the superficial application of ornament - the necessity of adhering to proportion - the proper material for fireplace andirons - the usages of cornices - the decoration of windows - and much, much more.

Individuality in house-furnishing has seldom been more harped upon than at the present time. The cheap originality which finds expression in putting things to uses for which they were not intended is often confounded with individuality; whereas the latter consists not in an attempt to be different from other people at the cost of comfort, but in the desire to be comfortable in one's own way, even though it be the way of a monotonously large majority. It seems easier to most people to arrange a room like some one else's than to analyze and express their own needs. -from Chapter II: "Rooms in General" This classic 1898 manual of interior design is considered a standard reference of the art, and perfectly useful more than a century later. Here, renowned American architect OGDEN CODMAN, JR. (1863-1951) is joined by American author EDITH WHARTON (1862-1937), whose novels, including The House of Mirth (1905) and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Innocence (1920), took us into the wealthy-and tasteful-New York society she hailed from. Together, they offer timeless advice on such matters as: - the importance of balance and symmetry - how to avoid the superficial application of ornament - the necessity of adhering to proportion - the proper material for fireplace andirons - the usages of cornices - the decoration of windows - and much, much more.

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. First published in Norton paperback in 1978 in association with Classical America. A selection of Book-of-the-Month Club and Newbridge Book Clubs.