I have a growing vintage book collection and recently picked up this gem at Pine Bough Antiques in Northeast Harbor, Maine. It was published in 1956 by a British home, garden, and style magazine, and attempts to capture what the editors deemed a new appreciation of color, shape, and the intelligent use of space -- what is clearly a move toward what we now call midcentury design.
Here's a quote from the editor:
"With a proper regard for good traditions and a determination to accept only the highest standards in the modern idiom, all that is satisfying in a home can be achieved." Well said, Frances!
The book's advertisements are as fabulous as the content itelf -- like this one, with its dreamy use of color.
Kevin Sharkey 
From: Richard Spencer | 9/2/12 at 7:54 pm
That volume was probably sold at the 1956 Ideal Home Exhibition, Sponsored by the Daily Mail Newspaper. See wiki for history of the event,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideal_Home_Show
From: Rowaida Flayhan | 9/3/12 at 5:17 pm
Would love to have this book!