Candleholder/egg cup

A book list unlocked, etcetera

Sorry guys, I did it again and made my last post for paid subscribers only (default setting) and meant for it to be free.

So, here, for those of you who didn’t see it, is a list of every (?) book I’ve ever “recommended” on this blog (which is really not a book or rec blog, to be sure): Unlocked. With links!

And I found a few more gift items I’ve mentioned in the past and had not yet regurgitated here:

Kaitlin remembers me handing her Asa As I Knew Him (1987) by Susanna Kaysen when I was visiting her home in Marseille, and loving it.

I left that book at her house there, along with A Girl’s Story (2016) by Annie Ernaux and The Ravishing of Lol Stein by Marguerite Duras, but I don’t think she was in the mood to read about lost women in France at the time.

Thankfully, she’s in Connecticut now and her famously thorough, star-studded gift guide (Part I, Part II) is out today.

Sweny’s Pharmacy of Dublin, est. 1904 is mentioned in Ulysses and has since remained a sort of shrine to the book. The site was down for a while, but you may now order some of the very same “sweet lemony wax” that Leopold Bloom impulse-bought (for 7 euro!).

After seeing Rhea Dillon’s show at the Academy of Arts and Letters, I signed up for the surprise mailer.

The late artist Bettina’s marble pieces are likely sold out, but her archive of collage and photography appears to be endless. Inquire at Ulrik.

My sister got an engraved, egg-shaped, silver baby rattle from Sophie Buhai.

At Michael Trapp’s antique store in Cornwall, I purchased an alabaster plum and a large clamshell to put it in. He has some especially nice textiles.

I found a glazed earthenware bowl large enough for six avocados at the Auction Barn. The smaller things are not listed on Live Auctioneers, they’re just at the barn.

I have multiple pairs of these Gucci slides.

After reading this piece on The Row’s Paris store, I copied each furniture description into my search bar, curious about how much the Olsens paid for that Jean Prouvé sliding door, those Victor Courtray chairs, the Koloman Moser and Wiener Werkstätte chair, the Henrik Wouda chairs, the Lilou Marquand blinds, the Marcel Coard plinth, the Michel Dufet table, the Georges Jouve table, the Ivan de Silva Bruhns rug, the Eileen Gray rug, the Jean Lurcat rug, the Vadim Androusov sconces, those Commune ceramics.

I was led each time to an auction or gallery, and from there, found things closer to my means: a Jean Prouvé wall lamp, a Victor Courtray drawing, a round-based candleholder/eggcup by Walter Bosse, who also sold his work at the Wiener Werkstätte in the early 1920s, a Michel Dufet nightstand, an Eileen Gray…book.

Richard Christiansen’s book launch was in the Carlyle’s presidential suite and scented by his own delicious roma heirloom tomato candle. Extreme Cashmere gave us gift bags that included the bandana. I met the florist Molly Ford, whose work is beautiful (she was coming from decorating the Oak Room at the Plaza).

Attempting to buy a nice trashcan from eBay (do they exist?), I accidentally ordered a miniature “1997 Longaberger Waste Basket,” as it is etched on a tiny gold plaque. I like it, though (it holds my pens). Did you know that the old Longaberger headquarters in Ohio is shaped like a giant picnic basket?

I’ve said a million times to get people magazine subscriptions, but you can figure that out on your own, if you agree it’s a good idea.

There’s more to tell you, but it will have to wait, for now. Happy December!