Evening star., 1938-02-06

OF Cnelr Time.
Mrs. wilkins Library
With Historic Paneling.
The panehng in this charming
bookroom now in the house Of Mrs.
Blakiston Wilkins, over in Twenty.
second street, has a most interesting
history. Queen Victoria spent several
winters in the Villa Palmieri when 1t
was owned by Lord Crawford. As her
Majesty was peculiarly sensitive to
her surroundings and liked always
the atmosphere of her English fire.
side, Lord Crawford had this lovely
paneling ripped out Of one of the
rooms and had the walls hung with
English chint0es in colors such As the
Queen liked It was then that Dr.
and Mrs wilkins came into posses
sion of the panelins and had it in
stalled In their Villa Buonnisegni, in
Florence. BY the way. Buonnisegni
is the name Of the Italian family who
occupied that villa as early as 1875
Mrs. wilkins. nee Emily Howell OF
New York, was born abroad and after
living there most Of her life must have
conceived a nostalgia for her native
land, as she sold her Italian villa to
Helene. the divorced wife of Carol II
Of Rumania, who changed the name
to the Villa Sparta considered more
in keeping with her Greek blood
Helene bargained for the villa without
the paneling-much to Mrs. wilkins
delight-so here 1t is in a faraway
land-always haunted by rich memo
ries Of the past.
The Game Of Book Collecting
Mrs. wilkins Pastime.
The game of collecting rare books
and especially bindings has for years
been lively pastime for Mrs. wilkins,
who says she can hardly remember
when she first felt the urge, and she
added, to give way to the flrst impulse
is simply fatal, for like the greed Of a
miser, the acquisition Of one choice
treasure simply opens floodgate and
whets the appetite for more. until one
finds himself engulfed in an intense
desire to add just one more choice
volume to his collection.
Her love of books and her mania
for collecting must have begun back in
wandered about in her fathers library,
doubtless attracted at first by the most
colorful and decorative bindings, and
later when allowed to handle the books
by the feel Of the cover, until she early
began to notice differences In the ma
terial and style Of the book. Later as
she progressed in her studies and de-
veloped taste in literature, her prefer
ences grew and she began to fancy the
clothes which would best become ner
favorite books and heroes. She fancied
some should be elaborate; some studi-
ously quiet but rich-as in religious
books-and there we're some that
should be clothed in raiment of the
most elegant simplicity-such as some
Of the monastic bindings in white pig
skin now found in her medici collec-
ton.
She Studies Book
binding in Paris.
Being very good linguist and q bit
Of Latin scholar. Mrs Wilkins early
became interested in books Of the
earlier centuries. Then the formal Of
q book intrigued her; the tools which
she saw in the old shops Of Italy and
France, which were used in decorating.
and the style and manner of the world
famous binders. with some of whose
books she was familiar excited her
interest. 1t was, however, sometime
later that she took up the serious study
Of bookbinding in Paris-one might
say the cradle Of the relieur's art
and as her studies progressed the fas-
cination of the art and craftsmanship
became more absorbing and 4 book
became to her an animated thing
she handles them in that way. DR..
Wilkins WAS busily studying at the
Sorbonne for his Phi. D. degree, 50
she was enabled to give much time to
her work and to indulge in the charm
OF one Of her favorite hAunts-the old
book stalls along the banks Of the
Seine
The Medici Family
Fascinates Mrs. wilkins
Mrs. Wilkins evidently agrees with
Col. Young. whose famous chronicle
OF the Medici family Is a delight to
her. that the world owes a debt Of
gratitude to that much-mAliened
family for their announcement and
preservation Of the arts and sciences
IN the 18th and 18th centuries. She
had just laid on the arm Of q sofa
one Of her rarest books and one she
was most fortunate in getting. An
"Incunabula," 147s-79, bound In pig
skin In the style of Pope Leo X-the
first Of the Medici Popes-a unique
binding fooled in gold, with enamel
decorations, and at the four corners Of
both the front and back covers ex-
quisite little heads Of angels in relief
in gold-now tarnished-placed there
to protect the covers from resting on
the decorations. Another volume from
the Medici collection Is q red morocco
binding elaborately fooled in an all
over pattern azure" and with the