Tag: libraries

Spending time in research libraries is a passion of mine, one I exercise as often as I can. The research I find informs my writing here tremendously.

One of my favorites is the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University (it has its own tag here on The Diary of an Improvateur), which I’ve visited many times and have found some life lessons among the papers of some heavyweight writers. I’ve combed through boxes papers belonging to Thornton Wilder, Gertrude Stein, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Edmund Wilson, Edith Wharton, Henry Miller and Petrarch (yes, Petrarch!).

The remarkable men and women who’ve left literary legacies I would like to emulate are teaching me about more than writing as I sift through their lives; they are illuminating some remarkable lessons about living. This doesn’t mean I see them as pinnacles of psychological health—quite a few of them were some of the most tortured people who’ve ever lived. I am keen on sharing what I learn here on the blog so you can click on this tag to see what awareness I have unearthed!

Reception at Malmaison in 1802 François Flameng

Books Historical Design Interior Design

Transitory Spaces

The beginning of one of Napoléon Bonaparte’s earliest letters to Joséphine de Beauharnais simply oozes sensuality: “Seven in the morning. I awaken full of you…the…

The gardens at the Château Vaux-le-Vicomte

Films Furniture Design Garden Design

Heaven Shall Be Here

Saxon Henry May 9, 2016 actors and actresses American furniture manufacturers architectural storytelling Atlanta Baroque Era decorating history design industry leaders England France grand residences Great Britain High Point Market House of Bourbon libraries lighting Louis XIV monarchs nobility Paris popular movies Royal Courtiers royal palaces salonniere Tudor Era Versailles

In the film A Little Chaos, Alan Rickman, who plays an unlikely Louis XIV, declares, “Heaven shall be here.” He’s speaking of a ballroom he…

In the mood for chess in The Thomas Crown Affair

Fashion Films Furniture Design

How to Set a Mood

Saxon Henry April 11, 2016 actors and actresses American furniture manufacturers Atlanta decorating history design industry leaders fashion influences interiors France Groundbreakers High Point Market libraries lighting memoirs Paris popular movies summer reading list writing desks

The 1968 version of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway is a mercurial mélange of masculine and feminine charisma in equal…

Stephen Paul Johnson as a beset King Lear in HVSF

Cultural Explorations Literature Travel

Celebrating Shakespeare

Saxon Henry April 6, 2016 actors and actresses Baroque Era British poets dead poets society decorating history documentaries England famous writers Great Britain libraries New York City poetry Shakespeare The Literary Adventurer

Celebrating Shakespeare The 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death is April 23rd, the date he passed in 1616 at the age of 52 believed to…

The Basilica of St. Francis, as seen from below

DesignLabs Furniture Design Travel

It Is Time to Experience More

Saxon Henry March 24, 2016 Beinecke Library cathedrals to explore design industry leaders Edith Wharton Emotionality of Architecture famous writers Henry James High Point Market Italy libraries lighting Medieval Times Michelangelo novelists painters Rome salonniere Yale University

Experience more. It sounds like a simple directive but how many of us really take the time to savor what is happening right in front…

Bertie Pelham visits Edith Crawley’s London Flat.

Cultural Explorations Television Series

I Met Virginia Woolf in This Room

Saxon Henry February 18, 2016 actors and actresses books of letters British poets dead poets society England famous writers fine antiques Great Britain libraries literary design encounters London memoirs nobility nonfiction writers novelists painters set decoration Virginia Woolf writing desks

Who else is relieved that Lady Edith Crawley, played by Laura Carmichael, is finally finding happiness on Downton Abbey? Having binged on all of the…

Furniture Design Literature Television Series

What Is Art?

Saxon Henry January 12, 2016 American furniture manufacturers Atlanta authenticity design industry leaders design narratives famous writers libraries lighting

“It is assumed that everyone knows and understands what is meant by the word beauty,” Leo Tolstoy wrote. “And yet not only is this not…

The Mad Hatter as seen through a magnifying glass

Interior Design Literature Travel

Through the Looking Glass into Devon

Saxon Henry January 5, 2016 design industry leaders design narratives famous writers libraries literary design encounters novelists

Through the Looking Glass Into Devon “‘What is the use of a book,’ thought Alice, ‘without pictures or conversations?’” “What is the use of a…

Three children painted in the Elizabethan style.

Books Garden Design Interior Design

Narratives That Illuminate Design

Saxon Henry December 9, 2015 antiques shopping in Europe authenticity Beinecke Library British poets Chinoiserie decorating history design industry leaders Edith Wharton Empire Style fashion influences interiors France French aristocracy grand residences historic castles House of Tudor Italy libraries lighting London monarchs Napoleon New York City nonfiction writers novelists Paris Parma Regency Era Renaissance Royal Courtiers royal palaces Tudor Era Venice Washington DC Yale University

Narratives That Illuminate Design If you believe that design-centric coffee table books contain nothing more than visual surveys of portfolios, I am out to change…

The luminous stained glass dome in the bar area of The National Arts Club in New York City.

Films Historical Design Literature

The Red Carpet Treatment

Saxon Henry December 1, 2015 actors and actresses books of letters decorating history Edith Wharton famous writers grand residences libraries literary design encounters memoirs New York City novelists popular movies set decoration

There is a momentum to writing that, once interrupted, is challenging to reboot. I’ve experienced this first-hand during the past two months as I have…