The first monograph on the work of renowned twentieth-century British decorator and antiques dealer Geoffrey Bennison. Geoffrey Bennison (1921–1984) ranks among England’s most influential designers, defying conventional notions of style to conjure up magnificent settings for discerning clients who loved his theatrical and romantic sensibility. The master of the layered look, he used antique textiles with his own fabrics to achieve a complex mix of scale, pattern, and color in inventive shades such as his evocative Red Riding Hood Red and Prussian Blue. His talent for combining eclectic objects, his unerring eye, and his deep knowledge of antiques earned him a reputation for sophisticated originality equaled by very few. Even today, leading designers turn to Bennison for inspiration. This lavish volume opens with an illuminating text about Bennison’s fascinating history—from his early days at the Slade School of Art and his work as an antiques dealer in London during the swinging sixties to his later career as an interior designer. All of Bennison’s interiors are showcased, from magnificent country estates and retreats to elegantly appointed apartments and townhouses filled with priceless French and English furniture and curiosities, making this book a must-have for design lovers.

A lavish look at the work, over nearly half a century, of one of the last of the great old-guard decorators. One of the deans of American interior decoration, William Hodgins follows in the footsteps of the legendary Billy Baldwin and also Sister Parish and Albert Hadley, for whom he worked early in his career. Based in Boston since the late 1960s, Hodgins’s work encompasses residential commissions from New England to Florida, as far west as California, and overseas. His interiors have been celebrated in the pages of Architectural Digest, House & Garden, House Beautiful, and other magazines and books. This is the first publication entirely devoted to his oeuvre, which spans five decades. Hodgins’s rooms are beautiful, thoughtful, and poetic; they are airy, light-filled spaces. They are also, in his words, as “extraordinarily luxurious as they can be in a quiet, understated way.” Handsome architectural detailing and a soothing palette work their magic and create visual flow; Hodgins is a master artist, his designs reminiscent of Merchant-Ivory films. A Hodgins interior is governed by white, and the decorator invokes the slightest of subtleties and different shades of white. For Hodgins, whites “reflect the quality of life and light in a room.” They “glow behind the art and furniture,” are restful, timeless, and age gracefully. Yet Hodgins is also noted for his judicious use of exquisitely clear and jewel-like colors: this skillful combination makes his interiors special, inviting, and comfortable. Among the forty notable commissions covered in this generously illustrated book are the private quarters of the American ambassador’s residence in Paris (1997), a pied-a-terre in a 1920s Beaux-Arts apartment building on San Francisco’s Nob Hill, several prewar cooperative apartments in New York City, and a considerable number of houses and apartments in the Boston and Washington, DC, areas and in Palm Beach, Florida. The majority of his commissions have been carried out for repeat and loyal clients, many of whom have commissioned him to decorate multiple homes. This presentation of his work will be valued not only by professional decorators but also by everyone seeking the best in interior design.

Adventure through the princely Thurn und Taxis estate, an enchanted palace where 1,000 years of history meets a thoroughly modern family. For 200 years the Thurn und Taxis family have called the palace of St. Emmeram home. Regarded as one of Germany’s finest examples of historicist architecture, the Regensburg residence’s myriad rooms trace centuries of distinctive styles: a Romanesque-Gothic cloister built between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, a neo-Renaissance marble staircase, a number of Rococo and neo-Rococo staterooms, and a Baroque library frescoed in 1737. Celebrated photographer Todd Eberle captures the confluence of high art and grand architecture within the 500-room palace to reveal the curious tale of the Thurn und Taxis family. Complete with stately portraits and scenes of life at St. Emmeram, this monograph offers a glimpse into the world and glamour of one of the most important dynasties of the European aristocracy.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The author of the international sensation Crazy Rich Asians delivers a “snarky … wicked … funny” follow-up (The New York Times) that’s a deliciously fun romantic comedy of family, fortune, and fame in Mainland China. It’s the eve of Rachel Chu’s wedding, and she should be over the moon. She has a flawless Asscher-cut diamond, a wedding dress she loves, and a fiancé willing to thwart his meddling relatives and give up one of the biggest fortunes in Asia in order to marry her. Still, Rachel mourns the fact that her birth father, a man she never knew, won’t be there to walk her down the aisle. Then a chance accident reveals his identity. Suddenly, Rachel is drawn into a dizzying world of Shanghai splendor, a world where people attend church in a penthouse, where exotic cars race down the boulevard, and where people aren’t just crazy rich … they’re China rich.

Thomas O’Brien’s name has long been synonymous with vintage elegance, modernism, and warm, livable design, so it’s no surprise that his luxurious homes in Bellport, Long Island, have attracted significant attention. Thomas O’Brien: Library House captures the gorgeous architecture, interiors, lush gardens, and myriad collections of the effortlessly formal and classic home and design studio (The Library) next door to his celebrated Academy house. In describing the process of imagining and building this dream project—a new house that looks as if it had been built over generations—the book also provides a view into how the author and his husband and fellow AD100 designer, Dan Fink, live and work. Stunning original photography documents this incredible, historically detailed residence and showcases O’Brien’s keen design sense and his expert eye through a lifetime of collecting art, antiquities, furniture, books, tableware, textiles, and more. Including behind-the-scenes stories about the extraordinary property and exclusive insight into O’Brien’s passion for gardens, this new book is an obsessive design companion and an aspirational guide to living a beautiful life in a beautiful home.

The first book dedicated to Henri Samuel, considered one of the best French interior designers of the twentieth century and acclaimed for his mastery of historical design, as well as his eye for contemporary presentation and furnishings—a high-point addition to Rizzoli’s continuing coverage of the masters of the field. Design legend Henri Samuel believed that a successful interior was one in which an observer never suspected that a decorator had been involved. This book takes the reader inside some of Samuel’s groundbreaking and inspiring interiors, beginning with his first job assisting Stéphane Boudin of Jansen in the 1920s through postwar Paris society and into the go-go ’80s. During his illustrious career, Samuel created rarefied and beautiful environments for his jet-set clientele—Doris Duke, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, Susan and John Gutfreund, Valentino Garavani, and multiple Rothschilds and Vanderbilts. Such was his expertise that museums such as Versailles and the Metropolitan Museum of Art consulted him on the installation of period rooms. Samuel was a master at reproducing intimate spaces in various historic styles in addition to mixing those styles in an erudite way: modernist paintings were installed over Empire consoles, Louis XIII furniture shared space with Oriental objects, neoclassical chairs were placed beside tables of brass and Plexiglas. This book records Samuel’s life, his career, and the luxurious interiors he created for his clients and himself—rooms that look as fresh and alive today as they did when they were first arranged. It is a necessary addition to any design library.

Inspiring interiors that have a personal, handcrafted feel. This lavishly photographed interiors book shows how to leave behind design "rules" to create truly beautiful, original interiors. For more than twenty years, Kit Kemp has been at the forefront of the international design community, with her signature style that mixes contemporary elements with antiques and junk-shop finds, luxurious fabrics with printed wallpapers, and hand-finished detailing with collections of simple objects that create impact. She avoids taking design too seriously, playing with scale, color and pattern to create very personal, handcrafted spaces. Alongside the stunning images of room sets and detailed close-ups will be the inspiration behind Kit's work and her tips for creating your own version of her style at home. Interiors are meant for living in, and the key is to create a space that is comfortable and beautiful and reflects who you really are.