Tome sweet tome…
Books enhance our lives and it’s essential to have a library to do justice to one’s collection
A library is essential to do justice to your collection of books, says Daniel Pembrey
Born of a deep and abiding love of Ireland and its history, my father, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, created a large library of Irish books at Chatsworth,” recalls the current duke fondly, speaking at Heywood Hill bookshop in London’s Mayfair. “I inherited not only the library but also a great interest in books generally. Now my son, owner of Lismore Castle in Ireland, has moved the library to the country that inspired it, creating another link between the generations.”
Those visiting Britain’s stately homes have good cause to marvel at the great libraries, in which the eye travels easily up high bookcases and ladders to ornately carved flourishes and gold-leafed motifs. Less attention tends to go to the leather-bound spines and glinting Roman numerals lining the shelves. Yet assembling a collection of books remains one of life’s great journeys and pleasures, as experienced in residences across the land. Such collections can also become an important way by which a collector is remembered.
Happily, there are specialist companies that can not only help develop collections but also provide for their physical accommodation. In the Duke of Devonshire’s case, he ended up acquiring outright the famous London bookshop that had assembled his father’s Irish collection. Heywood Hill, located in a Georgian townhouse on Curzon Street, was founded in 1936. Writer Nancy Mitford worked there during World War II, helping to place it at the centre of literary and social circles. Under the current supervision of Nicky Dunne, the 12th Duke of Devonshire’s son-in-law, it has come to specialise in both assembling libraries on myriad subjects and helping collectors acquire books one at a time.
These services are now sought out by clients from all over the world. Heywood Hill completed 25 library projects last year, ranging from 300 books on the Caribbean to 4,500 titles on the history of Western civilisation. “The key to creating a wonderful library is having not only rare books knowledge and expertise at the heart of the process but also a deep love of books,” explains Dunne. “Anyone can fill shelves. Very few people can do it well. Our Libraries Department lives and breathes good books and knows where to find them.”
Central to Heywood Hill’s success has been a set of relationships with out-of-print and rare-book suppliers, as well as subject matter experts, throughout the world. Because of this network, an American client might commission the London bookshop to assemble a collection on the Great American Novel, say. Equally, because of this network, Heywood Hill has come to deal in collections of books, sometimes placing entire collections at a time, and fascinating ones at that.
FOXHUNTING COLLECTION
An example is the Rolleston Foxhunting Collection, comprising 534 titles (the majority being first editions) covering foxhunting from 1650 to 1950. It spans biographies, fiction, cartoons and more. Titles include Nicholas Cox’s The Gentleman’s Recreation (1674) and Peter Beckford’s Thoughts on Hunting (1781). The Rolleston family started the collection in the 19th-century and, last year, it became available to purchase for the first time.
“Many book collectors share a desire to see their libraries not only stay together but also to have a life beyond them,” says Dunne. “That’s where we can also help. We find new homes for established collections. Sometimes it’s a question of pairing a collection, or indeed an individual rare book, with the person or institution who will look after it and value it most. Every collection is different.”
Those setting out to accumulate new collections may seek out purpose-built settings that can wow in their own way. Based in the Somerset village of Cheddar, Artichoke is a design-build company that aims to create spaces “not only looking as if they were always meant to be there, but also adding value for future generations of a client’s family”, explains founder Bruce Hodgson. “We want to help build up Britain’s heritage.”
Hodgson has a particular interest in Victorian and Edwardian joinery detail and is a member of The Carpenters’ Company, the City of London livery company established as a medieval trade guild to look after the welfare of those working in the profession. Artichoke’s renown grew during the 1990s with its work at Parnham House, the Grade I Listed Elizabethan stately home in Dorset. But even this unusually well-suited background barely prepared Artichoke for a recent commission in Rutland, involving a magnificent late-17th-century, Grade Ii*-listed country house. The commission was to create a library in the Baroque style, extending to almost 5,000 cubic feet, using European walnut. It took Hodgson and his team on a journey to Prague, where inspiration was found in the Baroque Philosophical Hall at the Strahov Monastery built in the 1790s using wild-grain walnut and regarded as one of the most beautiful libraries in the world, and then on to Croatia, where the Artichoke team managed to locate European walnut with an extra metre of root ball. “Most European walnut comes from short trees, farm grown, which didn’t give us the length we needed,” explains Hodgson.
The swags, tails, acanthus leaves and other exuberantly carved features were entrusted to master carver Ian Agrell, who runs one of the few carving companies that never carves by machine. Surfaces were finished so as to facilitate the gesso work and the water gilding, a traditional method of applying gold that encourages the leaf to adhere, considered to be the highest quality of all gilding techniques. The gold leaf was then burnished and antiqued (rendered less bright) to make it look ‘in period’. Finally, the team installed a secret drawer, disguised with acanthus leaves – gilded, of course – as a ‘thank you’ gift for the commission. “When we invited the client to behold the finished library, he stood on the threshold with tears in his eyes,” recalls Hodgson. “Seeing his vision realised in this way was a highly emotional experience for him, and one he will doubtless remember for the rest of his life.”
Behind the drama of such settings lies a set of technical considerations for any would-be custodian of rare, and in particular old, books. Halstock is a design-build
cabinetmaker working on some of the most exclusive interiors in the world, including The Glebe, an ultra high-end residential development in London’s Chelsea. In this world, requirements can be exacting.
“At the heart of what we do is a deep understanding of the practical requirements,” says Paul Walton, the company’s design director. “Books are damaged by direct sunlight and the wrong atmospheric conditions, so lighting, air circulation, temperature and humidity control are key. Interestingly, Georgian houses often addressed the light issue with shutters in angled window reveals. Today, we may rely more on blinds when the library is not being used. We often build in lights, for example, in pilasters between shelving units, which make the books easier to locate and are also aesthetically pleasing.”
Ideal conditions are neither too dry or damp, nor too hot or cool. Walton considers 50% relative humidity and 20°C to be good targets. Older books tend to have a high acidic content and can easily become discoloured and brittle. In warm conditions, leather bindings are equally prone to cracking. At the same time, damp may promote fungi or mould growth, potentially encouraged by dust, a food source. Regular dusting is advisable and some libraries incorporate features such as a decorative leather fringes below shelves to prevent dust from settling on books beneath.
Stowing the books might seem like a final, straightforward exercise, but books need to be stored appropriately. Ideally, books should be kept upright at a 90-degree angle to the shelf on which they rest and should be supported on either side by other books or stands of similar size, to prevent covers becoming warped. The books should not be packed in too tightly, as covers and spines can be damaged upon being removed from shelves, while large, folio-size books need to be stored flat.
“Where and how the books are stored and accessed can become a giant, fun puzzle,” says Walton. “We find ourselves incorporating sliding ladders, pull-out surfaces and folio or map chests. A cataloguing system is often required, which could be a card-based Dewey Decimal system or a computer-based system employing a barcode reader. A simple shelf-numbering or naming system can work for some,
Lighting, air circulation, temperature and humidity control are key
while, for others, arranging the books by size or colour is desirable. Everything depends on the client. And it is important not to overlook security. These books can often be irreplaceable.”
Meanwhile, others warm to the idea of simply being surrounded by books. Classical architect Francis Terry is a proponent of doubling up room functions. His dining room is also a library. “It’s nice to be able to lay out books or plans on the dining room table,” he remarks, “though I considered it prudent to store the books behind glass, in case a dinner party gets too boisterous.”
All manner of details and eccentricities might enter in. Brian Purnell, founder of Distinctive Country Furniture, reports brisk trade in secret library doors. “Sometimes they serve a functional purpose such as leading to a gun room or another room that the client wishes to keep secure,” he says. “At other times, a client simply likes the idea of a secret door.”
You may find as many combinations as there are individuals and, indeed, individual books out there. “The only thing that you absolutely have to know,” ruled Albert Einstein, “is the location of the library.”
For further details, contact: Heywoodhill.com; Artichoke-ltd.com; Halstock.com; Ftanda.co.uk; Distinctivecountryfurniture.co.uk.