Collecting and Decorating with Books

A portrait of Chattie Salaman by Duncan Grant

I love my books and although I know I will someday purchase a Kindle, I am still a book girl and continue to purchase them, doing my part to help preserve our independent bookstores. As an English major at UCLA, I discovered Virginia Woolf and she is still my favorite writer.  In 1975 my mother-in-law gave me the first volume of "The Letters of Virginia Woolf" and I proceeded to devour all six volumes.  That beloved first copy, which sits proudly in my library with the other five volumes, inspired my passion for colletcing old and sometimes rare editions of my favorite books. 

For me nothing makes a room warmer than a personal collection of books.  I love going into someone's home and seeing their books displayed.  Here are some of my favorites that I've displayed around my house.

These wonderful books, one by Vita Sackville-West, the other by Edith Sitwell, are from the "Britain in Pictures" series.

Another one by Elizabeth Bowen.

Some special books published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press.

 On the right is an American edition of "Seducers in Ecuador" by Vita Sackville-West.

Yesterday I made a book store run to our neighborhood Diesel Books looking for "My Hollywood" by Mona Simpson.  It was sold out (yay, Mona!) and instead bought this luscious looking stack of books: "A Gate at the Stairs" by Lorrie Moore, the new translation of "Madame Bovary," and "The Cookbook Collector" by Allegra Goodman.

 How beautiful is this dust jacket for  Lydia Davis' new translation of "Madame Bovary."

And finally what could be a cozier sight than a special nook in your kitchen for all your favorite cookbooks!