Katherine Keenum

Lovely serendipity: Face-out at a local independent bookstore this week, I found A Note of Explanation by Vita Sackville-West. As if a previously unpublished jeu d’esprit by Sackville-West were not enough, there were the ravishingly elegant, Art Deco illustrations by Kate Baylay who is, for me, a real discovery. I do love illustrated books, especially those that are handsomely made, as this one is. And it’s about Queen Mary’s dollhouse! Not only that, it was originally written to be one of the tiny volumes in the dollhouse library.

I bought it, read it at bedtime, and will read and reread it for awhile before shelving it with Racketty-Packetty House

For more about the dollhouse and A Note of Explanation, along with a photograph of the library and several of Balylay’s illustrations, click here.

Just before Labor Day, it may seem a silly, escapist, elitist indulgence, but at bedtime, aren’t we all allowed a little comfort and delight?