What's In Their Library: Adam Lewis Part I

In my own library, Adam Lewis' books are amongst my most treasured. It's not just because the subjects- Van Day Truex, Albert Hadley, Billy Baldwin, and the lady decorators- are near and dear to my heart. I think that the other reason is that the books are both well-researched and well-written. They are the kind of design books that appeal to those of us interested in design history as well as readers who only want striking photos. In fact, I have two copies each of Albert Hadley: The Story of America's Preeminent Interior Designer and Billy Baldwin: The Great American Decorator. Why? I guess it's because it gives me comfort knowing that I have multiple copies...just in case. I had the opportunity to hear Adam's lecture on Billy Baldwin last Fall, and it was one of the most interesting lectures that I've attended in quite some time. If you get the chance to hear to him speak, I highly recommend doing so.

Because Adam has an impressive design library (you can see part of it for yourself on his New York Social Diary feature), I thought that he would be a great person to profile in my book series. Adam was most generous in his list, providing me with titles of many, many favorite design books. He told me that I was free to edit his list down to ten or so, and although at first I thought about doing, I decided against it. How could I? As Adam said, returning to these particular books time and time again is like visiting an old friend. And really, how I could omit some of these important friends from his list? So, I've divided Adam's favorite books into two posts. I hope that you enjoy this list as much as I did. My book wish list just got considerably longer.