The Smithsonian Libraries’ has an Adopt-a-Book Program that the Cooper Hewitt Library has participated in for several years. Your “adoption” donation allows the Smithsonian Libraries to continue to grow the collection, preserve it for future generations, and make materials available around the world through digitization. Every year there is an “Adoption” event, so far, held only in Washington D.C. You can however, easily adopt selected books from many branches, including our library, on the Adopt-a-Book website on the SIL homepage. This year, the theme of the event is library materials related to Food and Drink. It’s always fun and challenging to come up with ideas for adoption candidates. The book you see above fits the theme, but was already adopted for preservation treatment in 2014. When the Library first acquired it, we couldn’t figure out what the images were about. Were they designs for dinner plates? Delightfully, these are cake decoration pattern designs!! Zum Geburtstag is Happy Birthday!!!!
Torten-Verzierungen : 78 moderne Vorlagen. (Cake ornamentation :78 modern originals) By Georg Steinberger. [Windsheim?]: Selbstverlag des Verfassers (Gesamtherstellung von E. Nister, Nürnberg), [1910]. Pattern book of designs for cake decorations. Designs for holiday, special occasion and seasonal cake decorations with some Art Nouveau motifs. The final, unnumbered plate is an illustration of different fonts for alphabets and numbers used in cake decorating.
Can’t wait to adopt a book or unable to join us on November 16th at our Adopt-a-Book event? Consider supporting the Libraries by adopting a book today! You can whet your appetite by browsing all of our available titles, or enjoy an appetizer by perusing a small selection of Food and Drink themed books. The main course, featuring over 80 books from across our 21 branches, will be revealed at the Event!
Elizabeth Broman is a Reference Librarian at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library.
