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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Eighty-seven: Impressions of Charleston, South Carolina > Original books, Heyward-Washington House, Charleston, South Carolina, 2013
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30-JUL-2013

Original books, Heyward-Washington House, Charleston, South Carolina, 2013

The most valuable original furnishing in the Heyward-Washington House is the priceless 1770 Chippendale-style Holmes Bookcase, considered by “Antiques Roadshow” experts as the “finest example of American-made furniture.” I did not want to describe the bookcase itself. Rather, I wanted to emphasize its function. The bookcase, which is in the Heyward-Washington House “Withdrawing Room,” is filled with leather-bound 18th century books. All of them are said to be original to the house. I moved in on some of those books, and photographed them stacked behind what is either a cracked pane of glass or a fortunate reflection implying great age. I finished the image in sepia, which adds a patina of time to the scene. This image is less about the bookcase, remarkable as it is, and more about the nature of what it has caring for over the last 250 years.

FujiFilm X10
1/40s f/2.8 at 28.4mm iso1600 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
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Phil Douglis02-Sep-2013 22:04
Thanks for echoing Tim's warning about the future of books in our e-book world. I do think specialized books will continue to be published in print versions, particularly those that contain content best viewed large and on paper, such as photographic books.
Iris Maybloom (irislm)02-Sep-2013 19:34
I echo Tim's observation and your response to it. It makes me want to exchange my Kindle for the feel of a book in my hands.
Phil Douglis01-Sep-2013 21:21
Wonderful point, Tim. These books may be more than 200 years old, and hold ideas that are older than that. Books that were once lettered by hand are still around as are fragments of books written on parchment and even carved in stone. Today, electronic delivery of ideas affords instant gratification, and certainly reduces the physical weight of those ideas in the process. However electronic delivery is only as permanent as the device and system that supports it. E-books, websites such as this one, and even the images we now make, will eventually vanish in the winds of technological change, sooner rather than later. As you say, a perilous future awaits. My use of monochrome here harkens back to another time, when the stuff of ideas was made to last forever.
Tim May01-Sep-2013 16:44
Your use of black and white here, speaks to me of the perilous future of books in our e-book world.
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