Interior designer and decorative arts historian Thomas Jayne takes on the redoubtable Edith Wharton and her co-author Ogden Codman, whose 1897 book The Decoration of Houses is acknowledged as the Bible of American interior design. Wharton and Codman advocated for classical simplicity and balance, replacing the excesses of the Gilded Age. In Jayne’s view, “The Decoration of Houses is the level-headed, indispensable book on the subject. It is not an overstatement to say that it is the most important decorating book ever written.”

Thomas Jayne possesses a unique dual vision—he keeps one eye focused on the aesthetic traditions of the past, and the other looking forward: innovating, creating, and imagining interiors to suit modern sensibilities. His reverence for traditional ideas does not restrict Jayne’s understanding of what makes a beautiful room—rather than seeking to replicate and repeat the exact décor from past, Jayne finds inspiration in the distinctive histories of the spaces in which he works. In every project he undertakes, he draws on his rich academic background in the decorative arts to design interiors that harmonize with their historical settings, yet also connect intimately to the active and modern lives of families who call these remarkable buildings home.

The Finest Rooms in America: 50 Influential Interiors from the 18th Century to the Present is a selection by Thomas Jayne, one of America’s best decorators and scholars of American design. It is a definitive record of the finest American interior design with an authoritative text and luxuriant color photography. The book includes a complete cross section of extant rooms covering a broad range of American periods and styles, beginning with the Tea Room at Jefferson’s Monticello and continuing to the present, concluding with Albert Hadley’s modern sitting room.

The Well-Dressed Window: Curtains at Winterthur is a unique compendium of design and textile history and an invaluable resource for designers and homeowners alike. Today Henry Francis du Pont, the force behind the transformation of Winterthur from a family house to the premier museum of American decorative arts, is recognized, along with Henry Davis Sleeper and Elsie de Wolfe, as one of the early leaders of interior design in this country.