Anatomy for Interior Designers and How to Talk to a Client

New York: Whitney Publications, 1948. First edition of this wonderfully illustrated collection of articles first published in INTERIORS magazine, in the original dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, inscribed by author Francis Schroeder: “The first copy of my first book for my first wife – Bunny.” Journalist and art critic Schroeder was the editor of INTERIORS from 1941 until his death in 1952, documenting the midcentury modern revolution in industrial and interior design. The first half of this volume, “Anatomy for Interior Designers,” offers ideal sizes and proportions for the furnishing of private and public spaces: “styles in furniture have nothing to do with these measurements. They will apply just as well to a Louis XV bergère as to a chromium and rawhide chair; to a quick lunch counter as to an office desk; to a Victorian love seat as to a park bench.” The second half, “How to Talk to a Client,” provides practical advice on the pursuit, cultivation, and management of design clients: “It is possible to have a client give final approval to finished drawing without the use of alcohol but it is apparently seldom done.” The recipient of this copy, the wife of Schroeder’s youth, was Charlotte Dwight Church: by 1948, the year of the book’s publication, both Schroeder and Church had remarried. A terrific presentation copy, in near-fine condition, much nicer than usually found. Single volume, measuring 10 x 8.75 inches: [9], 10-69, [1]. Original orange boards lettered in black, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket. Black-and-white illustrations throughout text. Presentation inscription from Schroeder to front pastedown, with his pictorial bookplate, designed by Leo Kober, laid in. Light shelfwear to jacket, offsetting to front endpapers. (Inventory #: 1004053)