Marble busts and some principles of home library design

Many depictions of traditional libraries prominently feature marble busts of writers, philosophers and various historic figures. I would like to stress the importance of such elements in home library design. Here is why.

One of the most basic principles of design that I try to follow is the need for balance between various shapes within the same space. To my personal taste, a room that consists largely of the same types of shapes or surfaces (for instance round tables, round stools, round place mats - and all that in an oval room to boot) cannot be seen as a well designed space. Now, libraries by their very nature make the prevalence of squares and rectangles unavoidable. Books are notoriously angular and bookcases are usually nothing but fractal rectangles of sorts (here is an example of rather unusual bookcases, however). This design handicap is well understood by all, so not much is needed to rectify the situation. One can employ crown moldings, wood carvings, furniture with rounded angles etc. Of course, some individual accents are an excellent choice. Marble busts work great for this purpose. Not only they provide visually appealing curves and various shapes. The very color of the stone stands out, because only occasionally book covers and spines are white! That's why I would recommend marble (plaster or alabaster are OK) busts as opposed to bronze. Not to mention the fact that busts and sculptures add a certain human dimension to any space.

The choice of marble busts these days is quite wide. You shouldn't have to hire an artist to make one unless you want to immortalize your own likeness. Here is a quick sampler of personalities that have inspired home library owners for generations, depending on their intellectual sympathies:

Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Voltaire
Literature: Homer, Shakespeare,
Music: Beethoven, Mozart
History: Pericles, Lincoln, Herodotus

Home library design - traditional elements and ideas

If there is anything that clearly separates a home library from a public or collegiate library of any kind it would have to be the presence of additional elements, apart from mere book cases, desks, lamps etc. Naturally, when even the most useful and well organized collection of books is housed in a person's home that room must be treated as a part of a living space, not just a large storage facility with rows of bookcases. In this article I am going to explore some design elements that enhance the looks of traditional house libraries. Perhaps this will serve as a guide for those who are struggling to come up with ideas for making their home library more personal and comfortable.

Pictures and engravings

In my opinion, the choice of paintings for a home library should be limited to art pieces that do not have bright colors. Such elements can be distracting. Also, a multicolor environment that is created by hundreds of book covers will not interact well with such paintings. Engravings can be a much better solution. They are also cheaper, and the selection is extremely wide. My personal favorites are engravings from antique books. Individual pages can be often found at stores and on the Internet at very reasonable prices. If you are designing your home library on a budget, you can order printouts of old book illustrations. As an example, I am publishing here an illustration from a 16th century edition of Virgil's works.

Statues and busts

(See also: Marble busts and principles of home library design)

The tradition of displaying statues and busts in a person's home goes back to Roman times. It was a custom to have effigies of one's ancestors. Gradually, statues and busts of famous literary figures became popular. They can vary in size, from the small ones you can put on your desk, to the larger ones that need a special base.



Globes

Back in the times when every educated person was very well rounded and had sufficient expertise in all spheres of knowledge it was a necessity to own items such as globes (including celestial globes). Similarly to sculpture, such design elements add volume and much needed curved lines to the environment dominated by straight lines.