Title: The Private Library
Subtitle: The History of the Architecture and Furnishing of the Domestic Bookroom
Description: A history of the architecture and furnishings of the domestic library, from around 2,400 BCE to the present

The Private Library is the domestic bookroom: that quiet, book-wrapt space that guarantees its owner that there is at least one place in the world where it is possible to be happy. The story of its architecture extends back almost to the beginning of history and forward toward a future that is in equal parts amazing and alarming.

In this book, Mr. Byers examines with a sardonic eye the historical influences that have shaped the architecture of the private library, and the furnishings, amenities, and delightful anachronisms that make the mortal room into what Borges so famously called Paradise.
Subjects: Library architecture, History, Private libraries, Library buildings, Design and construction, Library decoration, Library fittings and supplies, Intellectual life, Written communication