Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights
Like most personal compilations of encyclopedias this has it's moments of good and bad. The entry on white paint, for instance, isn't so much on white paint as it's on the interior decorator who stripped away Victorian chintz for our more modern decorating is pretty good sample of what the book is about.
This made a great bathroom book. It took a while, but it was fun to dip into the short entries every so often.
