The Cooper Hewitt National Design Library, a branch of Smithsonian Institution Libraries, is the major resource in the United States for books, trade catalogs, serials, pictures, and archival material covering design and decorative art from the Renaissance to the present. Students, artists and designers, writers, researchers from auction houses, preservation and historical societies, conservators, collectors, and museum professionals come and use our library to research and document design and decorative arts- and everyone is welcome. We are open to the public by appointment- Visit our Library homepage to learn more about us and for contact information. You can browse our library catalog SIRIS, online- just make sure that the books you might want to see say “Cooper-Hewitt”. We are the only branch in New York, all of our other branches are in Washington, DC. Below is a sample of some of the books that the Cooper-Hewitt Museum Library has acquired recently

1. The Adam Brothers in Rome: Drawings from the Grand Tour by A. A. Tait, edited by Sandra Pisano. London: Scala, in association with Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2008. NA997.A4A42008 CHM Contents: This book gives an account of Robert and James Adam’s Grand Tour of Italy. It details the works executed by or collected by the Adam brothers, now in the collection of Sir John Soane’s Museum, including paintings, drawings, and sculpture.

2. Danish Modern by Andrew Hollingsworth. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2008. NK2585.H65 2008 CHM Contents: Introduction: the appeal of Danish modern, including furniture, roots and development, global infusions, why Danish modern mixes so well; Cabinetmakers Guild: selected designers’ and cabinetmakers’ briefs (1927-66); photo survey: Danish modern in contemporary interiors; and a market guide: the art of collecting.

3.New Green Home Solutions: Renewable Household Energy and Sustainable Living by Dave Bonta and Stephen Snyder. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith, 2008. TH4860.B66 2008 CHM Contents: Introduction: A better life that includes energy conservation and efficiency, passive heating and cooling, solar electricity, solar hot-water heating, solar space heating, wind power for the home, micro-hydro power, financing, incentives, rebates, and tax credits, and system design and installation.

4. Once upon a Chair: Design Beyond the Icon, edited by Robert Klanten et al. Berlin: Gestalten, 2009. NK2399.2.O53 2009 CHM Contents: An international, up-to-the minute, survey of contemporary furniture design. It examines current trends and pioneering examples by the world’s most influential designers and emerging talents.

5. British Design by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. New York: Museum of Modern Art, distributed in the U.S. and Canada by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers; Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2010. TS57.A43 2010 CHM Contents: This book details the story of British design as seen through works selected from the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

6. Boxed and Labelled: New Approaches to Packaging Design by Shonquis Moreno, edited by Robert Klanten. Berlin: Die Gestalten Verlag, 2009. TS195.4.B69 2009 CHM Contents: A comprehensive overview of intelligent, innovative, playful, and attractive examples of current packaging design. The broad spectrum of packaging is illustrated through products characterized by cutting-edge graphic design, sassy illustrations, striking typography, careful use of color, and unique materials.

7. Bauhaus: A Conceptual Model, edited by Bauhaus-Archiv Berlin/Museum für Gestaltung, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, and Klassik Stiftung Weimar, in cooperation with Museum of Modern Art, New York; with translations by Benjamin Carter et al. Ostfildern: Hatje Cantz, 2009. N6868.5.B27B38 2009 CHM Contents: This catalogue attempts to provide fresh perspectives on the Bauhaus school through an in-depth look at the richness of its concepts and contents, delight in experimentation, training, interdisciplinary work, and communal life. A selection of sixty-eight representative objects organized in roughly chronological order from 1919 to 1933 serves to demonstrate the ways in which the Bauhaus succeeded in uniting so many contrasting voices and negotiating a condition of constant change.

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