The Private Library: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Bookroom

by Reid Byers

A history of the architecture and furnishings of the domestic library, from around 2,400 BCE to the present

The Private Library is the domestic bookroom: that quiet, book-wrapt space that guarantees its owner that there is at least one place in the world where it is possible to be happy. The story of its architecture extends back almost to the beginning of history and forward toward a future that is in equal parts amazing and alarming.

In this book, Mr. Byers examines with a sardonic eye the historical influences that have shaped the architecture of the private library, and the furnishings, amenities, and delightful anachronisms that make the mortal room into what Borges so famously called Paradise.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Books About Books

540 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2021

Reviews

[Marc Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exhaustive and well documented look into the history and raison d'etre of the private library. Filled with illustrations and photographs (many in color), it is a splendidly produced book that every book lover should read; particularly if you have a private library or are wanting to start one. The writing style is easy to read and the material is cogently presented and intermittently humorous. On a side note, do not drop this book on your foot, it is very heavy. In a word: excellent.

[Keith Raffel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love books and/or libraries, this witty and perceptive history is for you. The only downside is the yearning the pictures and drawings inspire for the private libraries of yore.

[Roger Burk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was clearly a labor of love by someone who wants above all things to have a gorgeous library from an English country house. Say a 20' x 40' room, hardwood floor with scattered rugs, barrel ceiling, fireplace opposite a few tall narrow windows overlooking a lavish garden and an inspiring view, maybe some clerestories, all other walls taken up with built-in 8' high bookshelves with custom cabinetry (aside from no more than two doors), filled with matching sets of well-read books bound in Morocco leather (no knickknacks, except maybe busts of poets and philosophers on top of the shelves), some wing chairs, conversation nooks, maybe a table or two with chairs for serious study and a desk and a pull-out bed for naps and a folding pole ladder for reaching the top shelves. And a servants' entrance disguised behind a door covered with book spines carrying fanciful titles ("Aristotle's Comedia" and so forth).

Myers covers the history of (mostly) private libraries from the very beginning:

* Cuneiform tablets stacked on shelves
* Scrolls in wooded chests
* Scrolls on shelves in a small storage room
* Scrolls in a small room opening on a colonnaded outdoor reading area
* Codices in cabinets in a sumptuous reading room
* Scholar's library

But the story becomes rapturous when it focuses down on the development of libraries in stately English country houses:

* Family libraries (17th century)
* Social libraries (18th century)
* Display libraries (19th century)

It's written in a semi-scholarly, breezy style. All quotations are in the original languages as well as in translation. It is lavishly illustrated and printed on heavy semi-gloss 80 lb. silk paper. It rarely mentions what is actually written in all the books in the libraries. It was a gift from my wife, and the perfect addition to my private library.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Came for the pretty pictures, stayed for the writing. Among my favorite lines:

"[T]he true subject of this book [is] that beneficent feeling of being wholly imbooked, beshelved, inlibriated, circumvolumed, peribibliated, let me settle on book-wrapt, a portmanteau that describes this feeling very well."

"[Pottering] is one of the innocent pleasures of having a private library: desultorily exploring the shelves, pulling down a book for a few moments, looking into another and another, rearranging books according to our current interests, admiring this, discarding that, making notes of needed volumes. These are deep and resonant pleasures."

"A reading party still makes a great get-together. Invite your literate friends to a house party where the chief entertainment is for everyone to sit about the library and read. Then send everybody out for a walk while you cook, and the conversation at dinner will fairly sparkle as you discuss the day's meanderings. Then in the evening have a read-aloud."

"People don't return books; they don't. This has been a well-documented problem for four thousand years, and there is no indication of it ever getting any better."

[Walter Otto · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content is informative and well researched, with footnotes and a lot of illustrations. Unfortunately all the illustrations are printed badly. They look like the were created on a color photocopier, as does the rest of the book. In addition to this most of the illustrations are small, not very clear and the colors bleed together. A major disappointment for a book of this price. Attempts to contact the publisher about this have not been answered. On one hand, I really want to keep the book as it has a lot of information not found elsewhere. On the other hand, I feel I've been ripped off. To would be buyers: Proceed with caution!

[Bud Winn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazingly superb; great reference for fleshing out a private library

[Risa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote a review here: https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index...

[Melissa]

Referenced substack

[Phillip Sawyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous history of the private library. The author is funny and knowledgeable and has a deep love for books and libraries. Highly recommended!