The House in Good Taste By Elsie de Wolfe, Illustrated with photographs in color and black and white, The Century Co., New York, 1913, 322 pp, pictorial light blue cloth with pink, yellow and gilt decoration, 9.25 x 6.5”, 8vo. 

In good condition. Light wear to extremities with minor scuffing along edges and corners. Light toning along edges of cloth with tanning to spine. Gilt lettering along spine is tarnished. Spine ends crushed with light abrasions. Bookplate of Maurice Robert Des Marais on front pastedown. Des Marais was a longtime faculty member in the Department of Architecture at Penn State College of Arts and Architecture and a corporate member of the American Institute of Architects. Front gutter slightly tender. Light toning throughout. No obvious foxing present. Free of marginalia. Binding intact. Please see photos. 

Second edition, enlarged. Considered the “Bible” of interior decorating. Born in New York, New York, the daughter of Georgina Copeland and Stephen de Wolfe, Ella Anderson de Wolfe was privately educated in the states and Edinburgh. She was presented at Queen Victoria’s court in 1883 and introduced to London society. Elsie started adult life as an actress before becoming an interior designer. Her relationship with actress Elizabeth Marbury made her famous amongst artistic circles. They began to live together in 1887 and made trips to Europe. Elsie and Marbury moved to Villa Trianon in Versailles, where they eventually shared living quarters with Anne Morgan, a wealthy U.S. heiress. They were known as the “triangle of Versailles”, living in a ménage a trois. 

COLA1913BEJD-823