Bookshelf Envy: Hogarth Press Book Covers

Below is a picture of the new addition to my apartment: new bookshelves... big, tall, wood, grown-up bookshelves! No more books piled around on the floor and on chairs for me! My boyfriend and I put these together over a two-day span, and it was quite possibly the most difficult thing we've ever done [we are horrible at instructions]. I shouldn't complain though, because I'm happy with how they've turned out, and now they will begin to fill up over the next year with books for our dissertation research...I will probably end up needing more shelves!

I kind of wish I could just fill the entire bookshelf with beautiful vintage books. I have to admit, I DO tend to judge books by their cover, and I've been known to buy pretty books, but then never bother to read what's inside...very bad for an English student! One exception to that bad habit would be getting my hands on an original copy of a Hogarth Press book. Hogarth Press was founded in 1917 and run by Virginia Woolf and her husband Leonard Woolf from their home in England. The press is most famous for their publication of many works by members of the Bloomsbury Group, as well as original printings of many of Viginia's books. Several of the books' covers were designed by Woolf's sister Vanessa Bell, and they have such a wonderfully child-like, handmade quaility about them:

These would look just lovely on my new shelves!!