An Ipad can hold a million a books, and with the Internet you have the world’s content at your fingertips but it still isn’t quite the same as sifting through stacks of literary classics or historical milestones.
Anyone can have a few nice bookshelves put into his study, but what makes a library is the content. And while “browsing” is now similarly a word used in the online sense, it is more leisurely when you can actually walk through and touch the content all relating to a specific topic – though you may not exactly know what you’re looking for, it is the act of browsing books through bookshelves that has a certain experience to it.
Heywood Hill, a bookseller from Mayfair that goes back to 1931, helps you fill your personal library with purveyed content to match. Whether you need 3,000 volumes on 20th century modernist art and design or a few dozen classics on foreign affairs to deck out that private jet, Heywood Hill will go out and find what you need so that you don’t end up with a Great Gatsby-esque wall of uncut encyclopedias.
Their process is rather simple but curated to an exceptional degree, where a client will have an initial briefing to discuss specific book and design requirements and receive a comprehensive cost estimate. From there, Heywood Hill’s team of in-house experts will go about to collate the book collection for the clients library which will then be delivered and installed by their team. Of course a library isn’t a library without new books to add to the shelves, and so Heywood Hill will include a follow-up service to ensure the ongoing success of the client’s library.
What about a book publisher that designs their own library furniture for the clients home? Assouline, renowned for their luxuriously crafted books has now gone on to create the Assouline lifestyle brand, which includes personalized library, special editions, luxury gift items, and a complete turnkey collection of stylish furniture. But what makes Assouline unique is its collection of personalized library furniture and accessories – imagine, Mondrian-style library shelving, Didot carpeting, vintage-inspired desk accessories and objets d’art, beautifully framed prints, elegant tables and book stands, sleek floor and table lamps, and luxuriously upholstered sofas and chairs. With its own interior design building in New York, you can be sure that a library crafted by Assouline is going to be a richly aesthetical one.
