The Decoration of Houses

Emily Orlando delivers a breakthrough and long-overdue edition of one of the most revealing books in Edith Wharton's career and elegantly recreates her codes for American taste. The volume offers multiple visions of the author's influence in the decoration of houses, the aesthetics for the world in which she lived, and her famous coordination with the architect, Ogden Codman, himself. From Wharton's distaste for the vulgar to her delight in proportion, Orlando explores the background of the writer's early passion for beautiful living as the basis for the moral vision of her fictions." - Dale M. Bauer, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Emily J. Orlando introduces us anew to Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr.'s The Decoration of Houses in an authoritative and elegant edition befitting its subject. Orlando's stunning introduction and thorough annotations showcase her deep familiarity with the text and its authors, and illuminate the book's composition, contexts, history, and reception, as well as its enduring influence today. The connections that Orlando draws between this early book and Wharton's subsequent writing, and Wharton's own homes and experiences, are rich and generative. This first scholarly edition of The Decoration of Houses is an invaluable resource for scholars, students, and general readers interested in architectural and cultural history and Wharton's gilded age." - Gary Totten, University of Nevada, Las Vegas