Dr. Emily Orlando Book Launch: The Decoration of Houses

The Humanities Institute invites you to join us in celebration and launch of the new edition of Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman’s The Decoration of Houses, edited and fully annotated by Dr. Emily Orlando, Professor of English and E. Gerald Corrigan Chair in the Humanities and Social Sciences.

January 27, 2025, 5-7 PM in the Kelley Center Presentation Room. 

Wine, beverages, and light appetizers will be served! 

Edith Wharton’s The Decoration of Houses (1897), co-written with the architect Ogden Codman Jr., brought transatlantic fame to a writer best known as a chronicler of Gilded Age New York. In their decorating guidebook, Wharton and Codman advocated for simple but classically informed choices that resonate profoundly today. The book crystallizes what Wharton found to be troubling in Americans’ enthusiasm for ostentation at the turn of the twentieth century.

This annotated edition includes a comprehensive introduction that provides relevant biographical information on Wharton, as well as her literary work and how her perspectives on homeownership and décor informed her writing. Valuable to Wharton scholars as well as students of design, The Decoration of Houses presents a definitive look at the tastes of a literary icon.