Booksellers

More Than by Any Other One Thing: A Diana Vreeland Homage to Books

By Steve Kroeter March 8, 2011

We sent out our second monthly newsletter last week—which meant that some people hit reply and thoughtfully sent us return notes. We got one from Linda Golant, whom we are always particularly happy to hear from, since she owns The Fashion Bookstore in Los Angeles—a Designers & Books affiliated bookseller.

Linda wrote: “I'm sending you a photo of the wall behind my desk. Above the painting of Diana, the goddess of fashion, is one of my favorite Vreeland quotes. Thought you'd enjoy it.”

We did enjoy it. So much so that we are reproducing the photo with the Vreeland quotation for you here:

painting of Diana Vreeland with quotation

If you type Vreeland’s words into Google using quotation marks, you get two results. The first one tells you that the sentence comes from Vreeland’s autobiography, D.V., which was edited by George Plimpton and Christopher Hemphill. It was originally published in 1984 by Knopf; then there was a Da Capo Press edition; and—what a nice coincidence—a new edition is due out from Ecco* in 6 weeks: on April 19.

It is worth mentioning this, because it is worth going back and looking at the entirety of the passage in which the above quotation appears:

Let’s suppose you were a total stranger—and a very good friend. That’s a good combination. What would you want to know about me? And how would you go about finding it out?

To me, the books I’ve read are the giveaway. My life has been more influenced by books than by any other one thing. I stopped reading—seriously reading—years ago. But what I read before then has remained forever secure in my mind, because I used to read and reread and reread. The real seriousness of my youth—by which I mean my young married years—was that I devoted myself totally to learning. From the time I got married at eighteen until the time I went to work in 1937, twelve years—I read. . . .

Reed and I had seven thousand books. . . .

She goes on to say how she and Reed (her husband) “would read things together out loud” and how “when you’ve heard the word, it means so much more than if you’ve only seen it.”

The chapter continues with her talking about the several “constants” in her reading: “Tolstoy!” (War and Peace)—“Japan” (The Tale of Genji and The Pillow Book)—and “Bavarian and Hungarian kicks” (The Ludwigs of Bavaria). For the children: Hans Christian Andersen, Chinese fairy tales, and Russian fairy tales.

Although there was much about Vreeland’s 50-year reign over the fashion world while she was at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue that was almost otherworldly, at least when it comes to appreciating words on paper, we are cut from the same cloth.

* The Ecco catalogue includes this note about the forthcoming edition: “This Ecco reissue will coincide with a documentary about Diana Vreeland, The Eye Has to Travel, a retrospective of her work, presented in a touring museum show that will visit London, Paris, New York, San Francisco and Tokyo, and book, and a reissue of Allure (Chronicle Books), the photography book curated by Diana Vreeland, featuring an introduction by Marc Jacobs.”

Steve Kroeter
Editor in Chief

comments powered by Disqus

Announcements

Now is Better by Stefan Sagmeister

Now is Better

By Stefan Sagmeister
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: October 2023

Combining art, design, history, and quantitative analysis, transforms data sets into stunning artworks that underscore his positive view of human progress, inspiring us to think about the future with much-needed hope.

Order the book.

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future by Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future

By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Publisher: Phaidon Press
Published: May 2022

Rawsthorn and Antonelli tell the stories of the remarkable designers, architects, engineers, artists, scientists, and activists who are at the forefront of positive change worldwide. Focusing on four themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—the authors present a unique portrait of how our great creative minds are developing new design solutions to the major challenges of our time, while helping us to benefit from advances in science and technology.

Order the book.

Love Letter to a Garden by Debbie Millman

Love Letter to a Garden

By Debbie Millman
Contributions by Roxane Gay
Publisher: Timber Press
Published: April 15, 2025

From the award-winning artist, designer, and the host of the podcast Design Matters, Debbie Millman, this book tells the visual story of falling in love with gardening—and the philosophies that work conjures. Spread throughout are simple recipes using the garden’s ingredients from Millman’s wife, best-selling author Roxane Gay.

Order the book.

Milton Glaser: POP by Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber

Milton Glaser: POP

By Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, and Beth Kleber
Publisher: The Monacelli Press
Published: March 2023

This collection of work from graphci design legend Milton Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of the designer’s work that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Order the book.

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall by Alexandra Lange

Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall

By Alexandra Lange
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Published: June 2022

Chronicles postwar architects’ and merchants’ invention of the shopping mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. Publishers Weekly writes, “Contending that malls answer ‘the basic human need’ of bringing people together, influential design critic Lange advocates for retrofitting abandoned shopping centers into college campuses, senior housing, and ‘ethnocentric marketplaces’ catering to immigrant communities. Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form.”

Order the book.

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition) by Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller

Die Fläche: Design and Lettering of the Vienna Secession, 1902–1911 (Facsimile Edition)

By Diane V. Silverthorne, Dan Reynolds, and Megan Brandow-Faller
Publisher: Letterform Archives Books
Published: October 2023

This facsimile edition of Die Fläche, recreates every page of the formative design periodical in full color and at original size, accompanied by essays that contextualize the work, highlighting contributions by pathbreaking women, innovative lettering artists, and key practitioners of the new “surface art,” including Rudolf von Larisch, Alfred Roller, and Wiener Werkstätte founders Koloman Moser and Josef Hoffmann.

Order the book.