Well Happy Monday!
After a very S-L-O-W Sunday, in which I nurtured my hangover (damn sparkling rose! and red wine! and maple ice wine!), I am back in the pink (and no, that is no pun related to the rose, which at present moment, is DEAD to me...)
So I am a little behind in catching all the latest decor news, but I have been on a rest (this sounds very Virginia Woolf and I am okay with that!) and continue to catch up on the world around!
Imagine my delight to see the latest wallpaper from Osborne and Little - Penguin Classics!
I think Tabs may have already written about this, but never mind, as I do not mind being a copycat!
Last week, I was besotted with green velvet wallcoverings. This week, I want a wall of Penguin Classics books!
The press release states:
After a very S-L-O-W Sunday, in which I nurtured my hangover (damn sparkling rose! and red wine! and maple ice wine!), I am back in the pink (and no, that is no pun related to the rose, which at present moment, is DEAD to me...)
So I am a little behind in catching all the latest decor news, but I have been on a rest (this sounds very Virginia Woolf and I am okay with that!) and continue to catch up on the world around!
Imagine my delight to see the latest wallpaper from Osborne and Little - Penguin Classics!
I think Tabs may have already written about this, but never mind, as I do not mind being a copycat!
Last week, I was besotted with green velvet wallcoverings. This week, I want a wall of Penguin Classics books!
The press release states:
Introducing PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper, produced with the kind permission of Penguin.
Penguin is synonymous with beautiful design and has played an important role in the development of graphic design, typography and illustration for over 75 years. Its iconic triband book jacket has ingrained itself in public design consciousness, recognised around the world from London and New York to Beijing and Rio.
This design heritage dates back to the origins of the company, when its founder Allen Lane launched the first ten paperbacks in 1935. They broke the mould in a number of ways. First, they were designed for the masses and priced at 6d, the price of a packet of cigarettes. Second, they were quality titles, previously unobtainable unless you had significant money to spend or a library card. Third, they were designed and packaged attractively in order to encourage not just traditional bookshops, but also railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores, to display them.
The Penguin tri-band design was the work of Edward Young, a 21 year-old office junior who went on to become the company’s first Production Manager, who was also dispatched to London zoo to sketch a penguin for the now well-recognised and much-loved logo. The template he created consisted of three horizontal stripes: upper and lower bands colourcoded by genre (orange for fiction, blue for biography, green for crime, cerise for travel and adventure, for example) and a central white panel containing the author and, of course, they came printed with the iconic Penguin logo. The distinctive simplicity was a radical departure from the more ornate approach of its competitors and spoke volumes about the new company.
This classic tri-band book cover design subtly changed in its early years. The Penguin imprint, initially Bodoni Ultra Bold, was substituted with Gill Sans typeface and the Penguin logo was re-drawn several times, gently evolving from the original life-like penguin seen on the Ariel cover, becoming a dancing penguin as shown on A Room of One’s Own, to the affable penguin featured on Brighton Rock which is similar to that used today. Two non-fiction titles Civilisation and Explosives are shown on the wallpaper, identified by the famous Pelican imprint logo and pale blue covers.
The PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper is a collage of front covers of those iconic early paperbacks from this famous publishing house and includes Ariel, the very first Penguin paperback published in 1935. The book covers were chosen for their diversity of colour and to illustrate the breadth of Penguin’s publishing backlist. Great care was taken in the design to truly represent the original paperbacks in all their, sometimes well-read and a little worn, glory. The resulting PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper is a glorious colourful ‘conversational piece’ which we hope will be received with as much affection as the books themselves.
Now, I would like a wall of this wallpaper but it will not go in my library, since THAT room is completely filled up with books and things, thank you very much...We are book crazy Chez WMM and it is to our detriment, as the books threaten to overwhelm us at every turn...If they were only limited to the library, that would be one thing, but no... they are everywhere and they multiply constantly. And when they fill up the kids' rooms they are relegated to the library and then I do my best to control it all. But every room, including the kitchen, is home to at least 20-30 more books on top of the library. I have told my children they MUST take their books with them when they go, because I will need the room. But I am not hopeful...
Our library was built a few years ago by guess who - Barry. We already had some book shelves and then he built a whole wall of shelving that is 9 feet high and probably 8 or 9 feet across (I am no good with measurements and refuse to get off the couch to check). We always wanted a library. For me it began by playing Clue and seeing that room on the board:
Drama Queen that I am, I always loved that moment when you "accused" one of the other players with your cunning intellect! My house is too small for a ballroom or a billiard room, but bloody hell, I will have a conservatory someday! (sorry - that was the Colonel Mustard coming out in me).
There is something so wonderful about a library. All those books, all that quiet. Divine. Our library currently only has one chair as Barry has moved his home office into the room..
Walking into the Library:
Some of the original shelving I mentioned...
One of the other original shelves...
When I see pictures of people's bookshelves I am obsessed to see what is on them. What books do they read? what are their knicknacks?
Kathy - do you see the Wizard of Oz memorabilia?
Books and sentimental favourites, some of which we will discuss in coming days. Did I mention I LOVE geraniums? Best scent for me ever! You can see one of my summer guests at the bottom of the picture below.
The encroachment of the children's books, or as I like to say, a Series of Unfortunate Events.. (very punny Wendy - I see the books on the shelves..)
In the picture above, you can barely see a picture of my grandfather, at age 18. Dani mentioned pictures of ancestors looking like their descendents earlier today and it made me think of my grandfather, my dad, myself and my son, who all looked remarkably alike.
A close-up of the picture above:
And my son this afternoon
He refused to look at me to have his picture taken, but you get the picture (!). I wonder if my grandfather was alive today if he would be stretching his ear lobes and piercing his nose...
So happy Monday - I will meet you in the conservatory later for a glass of wine..
Stay safe out there!
Penguin is synonymous with beautiful design and has played an important role in the development of graphic design, typography and illustration for over 75 years. Its iconic triband book jacket has ingrained itself in public design consciousness, recognised around the world from London and New York to Beijing and Rio.
This design heritage dates back to the origins of the company, when its founder Allen Lane launched the first ten paperbacks in 1935. They broke the mould in a number of ways. First, they were designed for the masses and priced at 6d, the price of a packet of cigarettes. Second, they were quality titles, previously unobtainable unless you had significant money to spend or a library card. Third, they were designed and packaged attractively in order to encourage not just traditional bookshops, but also railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores, to display them.
The Penguin tri-band design was the work of Edward Young, a 21 year-old office junior who went on to become the company’s first Production Manager, who was also dispatched to London zoo to sketch a penguin for the now well-recognised and much-loved logo. The template he created consisted of three horizontal stripes: upper and lower bands colourcoded by genre (orange for fiction, blue for biography, green for crime, cerise for travel and adventure, for example) and a central white panel containing the author and, of course, they came printed with the iconic Penguin logo. The distinctive simplicity was a radical departure from the more ornate approach of its competitors and spoke volumes about the new company.
This classic tri-band book cover design subtly changed in its early years. The Penguin imprint, initially Bodoni Ultra Bold, was substituted with Gill Sans typeface and the Penguin logo was re-drawn several times, gently evolving from the original life-like penguin seen on the Ariel cover, becoming a dancing penguin as shown on A Room of One’s Own, to the affable penguin featured on Brighton Rock which is similar to that used today. Two non-fiction titles Civilisation and Explosives are shown on the wallpaper, identified by the famous Pelican imprint logo and pale blue covers.
The PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper is a collage of front covers of those iconic early paperbacks from this famous publishing house and includes Ariel, the very first Penguin paperback published in 1935. The book covers were chosen for their diversity of colour and to illustrate the breadth of Penguin’s publishing backlist. Great care was taken in the design to truly represent the original paperbacks in all their, sometimes well-read and a little worn, glory. The resulting PENGUIN LIBRARY wallpaper is a glorious colourful ‘conversational piece’ which we hope will be received with as much affection as the books themselves.
Now, I would like a wall of this wallpaper but it will not go in my library, since THAT room is completely filled up with books and things, thank you very much...We are book crazy Chez WMM and it is to our detriment, as the books threaten to overwhelm us at every turn...If they were only limited to the library, that would be one thing, but no... they are everywhere and they multiply constantly. And when they fill up the kids' rooms they are relegated to the library and then I do my best to control it all. But every room, including the kitchen, is home to at least 20-30 more books on top of the library. I have told my children they MUST take their books with them when they go, because I will need the room. But I am not hopeful...
Our library was built a few years ago by guess who - Barry. We already had some book shelves and then he built a whole wall of shelving that is 9 feet high and probably 8 or 9 feet across (I am no good with measurements and refuse to get off the couch to check). We always wanted a library. For me it began by playing Clue and seeing that room on the board:
Drama Queen that I am, I always loved that moment when you "accused" one of the other players with your cunning intellect! My house is too small for a ballroom or a billiard room, but bloody hell, I will have a conservatory someday! (sorry - that was the Colonel Mustard coming out in me).
There is something so wonderful about a library. All those books, all that quiet. Divine. Our library currently only has one chair as Barry has moved his home office into the room..
Walking into the Library:
Some of the original shelving I mentioned...
One of the other original shelves...
When I see pictures of people's bookshelves I am obsessed to see what is on them. What books do they read? what are their knicknacks?
Kathy - do you see the Wizard of Oz memorabilia?
Books and sentimental favourites, some of which we will discuss in coming days. Did I mention I LOVE geraniums? Best scent for me ever! You can see one of my summer guests at the bottom of the picture below.
The encroachment of the children's books, or as I like to say, a Series of Unfortunate Events.. (very punny Wendy - I see the books on the shelves..)
In the picture above, you can barely see a picture of my grandfather, at age 18. Dani mentioned pictures of ancestors looking like their descendents earlier today and it made me think of my grandfather, my dad, myself and my son, who all looked remarkably alike.
A close-up of the picture above:
And my son this afternoon
He refused to look at me to have his picture taken, but you get the picture (!). I wonder if my grandfather was alive today if he would be stretching his ear lobes and piercing his nose...
So happy Monday - I will meet you in the conservatory later for a glass of wine..
Stay safe out there!
Oh, WMM, we are book crazy here at Chez Anthro Blogger too! I nurtured it from childhood, when I could read up to 8 books a week. Now, knee deep in a PhD program, reading has become " work" but I hope that's a phase I can grow out of.
ReplyDeleteI think my husband and I should come over for a game of clue with you and B. And since we're trekking from a neighboring country, we expect to be fed ;) Then our plan involves borrowing Barry for a few weeks, and bribe him with ice cream in exchange for help with some home improvement projects. How does that sound?
Oh, and your son, what a handsome devil.
YOu and Tabs will have to work that out, I think he is building her a driveway this summer! Oh he is handy, but they are long drawn out affairs full of week or month-long breaks of effort. One cannot complain because, well, the help is free and the final product good, but it can be trying....
DeleteI would love to do my Phd - I think of it now and then but then think better of it. But you are living the dream!
Oh they do look alike don't they?
ReplyDeleteYour Clue must be our Cluedo, everyone's conservatories round here are an absolute financial drain, they leak non stop, are freezing in winter and too hot in summer -still they are all 1860's ish here - hopefully improvements have been made. I have two buckets collecting rain in mine just now!
Well I would love barry to build me one, but it is WAY down on the list...Maybe Barry could fix that for you, too!
DeleteYep, same. Known as "THE Mystery Game" if you ever make friends from Japan and Detetive/ Detective in Brasil and some parts of South America.
DeleteOh I like Detective/Detective! Reminds me of Mad magazaines Spy vs Spy
DeleteThey look so much a like. Couldn't help but notice Oprah looking over one shoulder and Charlie, from the Chocolate Factory, looking over the other.
ReplyDeleteI kNow - that is part of the NEXT reno - our family room - Barry finished one wall of the room about a month ago, a full wall for all the DVDs and video games. It is quite nice and library like as well. Oprah and Gene Wilder do make an odd couple!
DeleteBOOKING IN: Want the wallpaper. Smiling at birthday boy's teenage "disdain". Would love to have even more books around me, but aside from one wall of shelves boxed they are. Space for the humans trumps volumes. Library, maybe one day, 'til then public one does.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday WMM!
DeleteI bet that is hard for you bibliophile like you are! We carried our books around in boxes for years. I still have to do a purge now and then and books that I know I will only read once are now sometimes simply purchased on Kindle so I don't lose valuable space!
DeleteYes, thank goodness for building storage locker and pater's basement. I only buy "airplane novels" and work books on e-pub. Given the current price parity especially, I like feel of book-in-hands. Trying to borrow more from library. But cookbooks, collections (Bond, Yeats, Dr. Suess...) a problem.
DeleteGF, the North York Public library is a goldmine. It's a bit of a trek, but they have everything - a lot of movies too. And you can of course return to your local branch.
DeleteThanks for the tip Abby! I have never been (usually the one on College) but will definitely go.
DeleteIsn't that amazing, the resemblance! My gosh! What a handsome boy, and at least he let you take this picture which my nearly-18-year-old would NOT let me do.
ReplyDeleteLove your library, that dark blue colour is beautiful. I'm happy you're feeling better today. :)
Yes, I am not in such sad shape they last two days, though my supper was a paltry tomato sandwich! I don't think he realized it was for the blog, but probably suspected and it was done ender duress and while playing a video game!!!
DeleteThat's a cozy looking library. You do need a comfortable chair to read in, but maybe you read elsewhere as Barry has his office there. We have a small library, but there are books everywhere we can get a bookshelf. No one uses it but my elder D and me; there's a sofa and a pile of mohair throwa.
ReplyDeleteCute boy, Mom, and I know that expression well.
The big leather chair is quite comfy, but I tend to read in my sitting room looking out over the garden and staring at trees..which I guess isn't reading, is it?
DeleteMorning WMM, I'll be slowly catching up on blogs but I just had to pipe up and say how much I love your built-in shelves! I would LOVE a house with same. Will pop back again once the laundry is done! :0)
ReplyDeleteHow are you!!!!!
DeleteHey WMM, well, thank you! We had a relaxing time on the cruise (we saw the DVD of all the parties at the farewell show, but we steered clear of all that). It was so nice to be in the sun!
DeleteHi Wendy, happy Monday. I love your library! I used to want a library like in Disney's Beauty and the Beast :)
ReplyDeleteI have a meagre library now, thanks to many moves and a kindle. This does not bother me, as I have never found it hard to part with books. I only keep those with the most meaning or use to me. The rest are easily found at a library or store!
I have been reading along on my phone lately, and it's hard to comment on there, so a couple of stray thoughts - I love your updated peacock blazer, and I enjoyed your thoughts on "home."
thanks Abby! Barry wants a proper library ladder, but that is at least a couple of years away as they are awfully expensive!!! I would love the Beast's library, too!
DeleteHi Wendy, love the library! We need to build more bookshelves in our house, we are overrun by books, especially cookbooks. Have you ever tried Mrs. Meyer's geranium scented products? I love geraniums too and this smells just like them. My grandmother always grew them in pots on our front porch and I think of her when I come across them.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I have never heard of this JIll and now I am off to search for this. I often rub the oil from their leaves behind my ears and my husband finds that creepy! I love flowers that make you think of someone!
DeleteWMM, you can get Mrs. Meyers here in Canadian Tire (bottom shelf or organic area of cleaning section) although range is smaller in Maritimes.
DeleteHi GF - I got the Mrs. Meyer's Countertop Spray in Canadian Tire, in the Lemon Verbena scent. It reminds me of the Bronnley soaps and bath cubes we used to get or give for Christmas years ago. I also have some geranium essential oil which I sometimes add to hot water, along with tea tree oil, for cleaning. It's a pretty scent.
DeleteYour son is quite handsome, and the piercings would have gone unnoticed by me, as it's so common in LA. Normal in fact. If you want to be different here - don't have any!
ReplyDeleteI love that wallpaper and am now trying to think of where I could put it. I'm in Florida visiting my mother in law, and may be the only person in the world who's not fond of this state, although my MIL is quite OK. Homesick already.....Love your tin man and lion - that's all I could see. Your library is very handsome.
I have a Dorothy down in there as well as a Wicked Witch of the East. They just randomly arrive! I wish I was in Florida with you helping you get over homesickness as I am homesick for Florida - it is brutally cold here today!!! I was thinking that even one wall would be so cool....
DeleteWMM, your library is an inspiraton! I adore book filled rooms, although when we moved a few years aga, many of the books were never unpacked. Built ins are so classic, and white trim on a blue wall isone of my favorite combinations I always loved Clue. Your handsome son and his great grandfather share a very strong resemblance.I love all wall paper in theory, but less in practice.
DeleteThat is quite the library and a serious collection of books. I always donate my books after reading unless they are very special since I seldom read them over but maybe once we have a family I will keep more of them around so I can force them on my children.
ReplyDeleteYour son certainly looks like your grandfather. Obviously you have some very strong genes in your family.
Hi xoxo! We donate a lot as well, but then there seems to be others, gradening books, classics, coffee table books, that just cannot be parted with! ANd then the children's books! But eventually they can have them!
DeleteLove the library and how you always invite us to tour the house. It looks so cozy. We downsized from a larger home and donated books. Kept some children's books but looking back I wished I'd kept more .
ReplyDeleteStriking resemblance for your son.
HI Marsha! It is so funny I keep telling my kids that when I am 65 get ready - I will be shedding things to dust!
Delete