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Bienenstock Furniture Library Unveils Art
November 12,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Special Events on November 13, 2012
The Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library has unveiled art commemorating its complete set of the Diderot Encyclopedia.
The High Point library's approximately 4,000 volumes include 300 rare books, among those the set of the Diderot Encyclopedia, published in 1776about the same time Thomas Jefferson was writing the Declaration of Independence. Denis Diderot was a prominent French philosopher, art critic, and writer during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as the chief editor of the Encyclopédie.
Interior Designer of Record Pat Plexico, a long-time library board member, chose the plate and unveiled the art in a ceremony in November. The Plexiglas reproduction is a gift from the Alderman Company. It is installed in the main reading room.
This is just one of many illustrious tomes in this remarkable library, said Charlie Sutton, board president. If you want to get inspired, get ideas or just rub shoulders with the spirits of furniture luminaries of centuries past, the Bernice Bienenstock Furniture Library is the pantheon of furniture and interior design genius.
There are a number of things that make this 26 volume leather bound collection extraordinary. For anyone who is highly visual, this set contains page after page of detailed illustrations.
You dont need to be able to read French, the illustrations tell the story, said Karla Webb, the librarys director.
In presenting the plate, she explained: Here is an example of one of more than 2,900 plates that is typical of the collection. The illustration shows what went on in a typical 18th-century upholstery shop. Each of the processes is called out, and the caption at the bottom translates to Upholsterer: Interior of a shop and various works.
According to historians at MIT, the publication of these visual encyclopedias was a seminal moment because, for the first time ever, they ennobled and uplifted craftsman and the working class. Up until that time people who worked with their hands were looked down upon as manual laborers. Publication helped to usher in the industrial revolution. Above all, these encyclopedias are a sensual piece of living history. Readers can delight in the redolence of old leather, feeling the texture of 18th Century paper and admiring the printing, binding and typography of the era.
A complete set of these volumes is very rare. Even more rare, the BBFL invites the public to don a pair of white gloves and see these up close, examining areas of personal interest. An appointment is required, and the rare book room is limited to no more than two people at a time.