THE BOOK OF FURNITURE & DECORATION / ARONSON / 1ST ED

Aronson, Joseph.  THE BOOK OF FURNITURE AND DECORATION: PERIOD AND MODERN.  London: Putnam, 1937.  4to (approx 8.5 x 11”).  347, (3) pp.  Bound in publisher’s full gray cloth, gilt lettering on spine and cover.  Illustrated with more than 200 photographs and many line drawings.

FIRST EDITION (stated), FIRST PRINTING.  Hardcover with price-clipped dust jacket.  The volume is in excellent condition, tight and square.  All of the illustrations are bright and clean.  There is a former owner’s name neatly stamped on the fep, the ffep and the half-title and a former book dealer’s label on the fep (“Vanguard Booksellers (Pty.), Ltd. - Johannesburg”). The corners are lightly bumped.  The dust jacket (now in Mylar) is worn, chipped and soiled, with small closed tears at the head and heel of the spine and worn corners.  NEAR FINE/VERY GOOD.

An aid to understanding and identifying all manner of furniture and decoration from Egyptian through Contemporary Modern [1936]. Includes many hard-to-find photos of interiors by modern architects and decorators, including Richard Neutra, William Lescaze, Eugene Schoen, Joseph Allen Stein, Morris Sanders,  Alvar Aalto, Robsjohn-Gibbings, Alexander Girard, Paul Laszlo, Harwell Hamilton Harris, Paul MacAlister, Joseph Aronson, Gilbert Rohde and many others

This classic guide to furniture and interior decoration has been through many editions and printings, but this first, English, edition is extremely rare, particularly with the dust jacket present.