Bookshelves Part 1

I would pick to look at someone's 'shelfie' over a 'selfie' any day. To be honest, I am quite curious by nature and I am interested in looking at how people curate certain, meaningful objects sourced over the years and why. I love browsing people's book shelves too of course, I always have a look when I am at someones house, or on Selby's blog or on Pinterest etc. I saw some great book shelves on A Clothes Horse , that has inspired this post. For the last decade I have spent/invested money in inspiration / art books. Sourcing them from Waterstones, Amazon, charity shops, even TK Maxx (seriously underrated for books I have found), Heffers, car boot sales etc.

There are always new art books I have my eyes on and usually if someone asks me what I would like for my Birthday or Christmas, I often direct them to my 18 page Amazon wishlist. In my art book collection there is a lot of books based on textiles, printing, interiors or fashion but also a fair few books on Art and Illustrators.

Some of the books I have bought have been disappointing, however others have completely exceeded my expectations. I love owning so many books where despite frequently looking at them you can still discover something new each time you read it. I would love to own a library ... not just cramming the books where I can fit them in, but a proper smart library with custom shelving and good order. I don't really keep my collection very well organised, although I do have an alcove for my travel books, which again I could keep buying because there is always a new place to discover and learn about.

I couldn't possibly pin down a single favourite 'art book' because I have so many. I once met this girl who asked me why I waste money on art books and she said 'you can see everything that is in a book on the internet'. Seriously. No. You. Can't. I am not a fan of constantly looking at a screen, I much prefer looking at art that is edited by an expert in a book and flicking through the pages, not looking at pixels, where the information can be easily distorted or deleted when you want to go back and look at it again. So to anyone who believes that you can see everything in a book on the internet, I would suggest going out and buying an actual book and seeing how very wrong you are.

Species, animals, insects, flowers, plants and birds have fascinated me for a long time, I like to have reference books to look up something if I don't recognise it. I also love architecture, I can't currently afford to travel to all of the places around the world where I would love to go, so a book containing photographs or illustrations is the next best thing for me, until I get there.

I have found with some of my fashion books they look dated after just a few years, because fashion is changing constantly and can be quite fickle, maybe that is why I buy so many magazines too because they are more current. With some of my books they have been hard to source - I bought the Charley Harper book online and had it shipped from America because I could only find a small version over here, the Paper Cutting book was one a friend had and I lusted after it for ages - it was sold out everywhere for months before I had finally managed to get my paws on it.

I guess my collection is a total mixture of modern and ancient design and art. Some of the book are have a quirky dark edge to the ie 500 Handmade Dolls and Mr Finch. Below are some of my inspirational memoir type books which have been very insightful. I am a visual person, with out any shadow of doubt, but I do love reading too.

So, after thinking I have photographed all of my Art Books, I spy a big pile on the floor next to the piano, Never mind, I will do a part 2 at some point and go into more detail on my favourites

#books #shelfie #bookshelves #artbooks #coffeetablebooks