“A house without books is like a room without windows.” ~Heinrich Mann
I love books in peoples homes. Piled high on cocktail tables, arranged in bookshelves, used as side tables they never fail to inspire me. Books give a sense of history and comfort to a home. All of my books have moved with me from home to home, making each new residence feel like I have lived there for years. Borrowing a favorite book from a friend you can see what they have underlined, marked, and noted on each page or a well loved passage. You can go on ebay or to your local 1st editions bookstore and find many vintage books with beautiful covers. I love poking around old bookstores and libraries hunting for books which have beautiful covers and interesting subject matter. I find the smell of old books or libraries intoxicating.
Persephone Books prints mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction by women, for women and about women. All books have the same pretty dove gray jackets. The titles are printed on the sides in black letters in a white box. Classic and clean. When you open them up you are in for a treat. Each of the 86 books has a different end paper. The founder, Nicola Beauman picks these herself. The books are by female writers from the interwar years. Subjects include, short stories, cookbooks, and memoir. Their best selling authors include: Winifred Watson (Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) ,Dorothy Whipple, Marghanita Laski and Frances Hodgson Burnett.
With Titles like: Operation Heartbreak, How to Run Your Home Without Help, Few Eggs and No Oranges, It’s Hard To Be Hip Over Thirty, and The Wise Virgins it is hard to resist purchasing a few. These are a wonderful gift for any time of year!
Below are a few images of the shop in London.
The books are all arranged to display their beautiful end papers.
Order on-line: http://www.persephonebooks.co.uk/index.asp
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