The Elements of a Home reveals the fascinating stories behind more than 60 everyday household objects and furnishings.
Brimming with amusing anecdotes and absorbing trivia, this captivating collection is a treasure trove of curiosities.
With tales from the kitchen, the bedroom, and every room in between, these pages expose how napkins got their start as lumps of dough in ancient Greece, why forks were once seen as immoral tools of the devil, and how Plato devised one of the earliest alarm clocks using rocks and water—plus so much more.
• A charming gift for anyone who loves history, design, or décor
• Readers discover tales from every nook and cranny of a home.
• Entries feature historical details from locations all over the world, including Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa.
As a design historian and former managing editor of Design*Sponge, author Amy Azzarito has crafted an engaging, whimsical history of the household objects you've never thought twice about.
The result is a fascinating book filled with tidbits from a wide range of cultures and places about the history of domestic luxury.
• Filled with lovely illustrations by Alice Pattullo
• Perfect as a housewarming or wedding gift, or for anyone who adores interior design, trivia, history, and unique facts
• Great for those who enjoyed The Greatest Stories Never 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy by Rick Beyer, An Uncommon History of Common Things by Bethanne Patrick and John Thompson, Encyclopedia of the An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights by Jessica Kerwin Jenkins
Some of the books included in The Elements of a Home Bibliography
Bathtub
Dalby, Andrew. Empire of Luxury and Indulgence in the Roman World. Routledge, 2000.
de Bonneville, Francoise. The Book of the Bath. New Rizzoli, 1998.
Billiard Table
Baird, Sarah. “The Life and Death of the American Pool Hall.” Punch, January 23, 2015. Accessed July 11, 2017. and-death-of-the-american-pool-hall.
Levron, Jacques. Daily Life in Versailles in the Seven-teenth and Eighteenth Centuries. New The Macmillan Company, 1968.
Bookshelf
Mari, Francesca. “Shelf Conscious.” Paris Review, December 27, 2012. review.org/blog/2012/12/27/shelf-cons....
Petroski, Henry. The Book on the Bookshelf. New Vintage Books, 2000.
Candle
Bremer-David, Charissa, ed. Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century.Los J. Paul Getty Trust, 2011.
Dillon, Maureen. Artificial A Social History of Domestic Lighting. The National Trust, 2002.
Canopy Bed
Bard Graduate Center. History of Decorative Arts and Material Culture, 1400–2000. New Bard Graduate Center, 2013.
Carlano, Anne, and Bobbie Sumberg. Sleeping The Bed from Antiquity to Now. Seattle, University of Wash-ington Press, 2006.
Chaise Longue
de Dampierre, Florence. A History. New Harry N. Abrams, 2006.
DeJean, Joan. The Age of When Paris Discovered Casual and the Modern Home Began. New Bloomsbury Press, 2013.
Chess Set
Brown, Nancy Marie. Ivory The Mystery of the Most Famous Chess-men in the World and the Woman Who Made Them.Prince Frederick, Recorded Books, 2015.
Dean, George, with Maxine Brady. Chess One Thousand Years of Extraordinary Chess Sets. New Abrams Books, 2010.
Chiavari Chair
de Dampierre, Florence. A History.New Harry N. Abrams, 2006.
Chopsticks
Visser, Margaret. The Rituals of The Origins, Evolution, Eccentricities, and Meaning of Table Manners. New Pen-guin Books, 1992.
Wang, Edward Q. A Culture and Culinary History. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Clock
Bremer-David, Charissa, ed. Life and Luxury in the Eighteenth Century. Los J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011.
Chevallier, Bernard, and Marc Walter. Empire French Taste in the Age of Napoleon. New The Vendome Press, 2008.
Cocktail Shaker
Grimes, William. Straight Up or on the The Story of the American Cocktail. New North Point Press, 2001.
Lanza, Joseph. The The Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche. New St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Crystal Chandelier
Cooke, Lawrence S. Lighting in From Colonial Rushlights to Victorian Chandeliers. Pittstown, Main Street Press, 1984.
Fioratti, Helen Costantino. Illuminating Their Three Hundred Years of Light. New L’Antiqu- aire and the Connoisseur, Inc., 2007.
Curule Chair
de Dampier...