F ³: Coffee Tables

 

A piece of furniture that I grew up taking for granted was the coffee table. We always had one, suitably placed a careful distance in front of the couch. (Our family said couch, not sofa. My grandmother said davenport.) On the coffee table were the several magazines my parents subscribed to, a bowl of Japanese polished stones, and perhaps a small puzzle like Instant Insanity or a Soma Cube.

When visiting a friend’s house, I could tell a lot about their family by which magazines were laid out, what fancy books. Would there be a bowl of nuts or a candy dish? If there were coasters it meant that you were allowed to bring drinks out of the kitchen - - a rarity at my house.

There was never ever any coffee-serving going on at the coffee table at my house. The one exception was on Christmas morning when my father would’ve been completely unable to manage present-opening without it. He was not a morning person. In fact, as a young child I processed the two words as one word, “coffeetable” and didn’t realize it had anything to do with coffee it at all. 

Occasionally a Really Nice Book would be placed on the coffee table. My father’s hardback atlas that he had been given as a gift by coworkers. My photographic book of dogs which is as close as I got to a real dog for years - - I’m allergic. I don’t know if they were called “coffee table books” back then. Maybe.

Coffee table books are usually large-scale hardcover books intended for display and casual browsing. Their contents are primarily photos or illustrations, plus captions or small blocks of text. Together, they offer a visual journey or overview of a theme. 

The modern coffee table book concept is commonly attributed to the Sierra Club. In 1960, the organization published This Is the American Earth, featuring nature photography by Ansel Adams and words by Nancy Newhall. The volume is often called the first coffee table book.  - - Mixbook

I remember being so fascinated by turning the pages of beautiful coffee table books full of nature photography or works of art. There’s a certain sensory experience to holding a book, touching the pages, inhaling the unmistakable scent of paper, binding, and print. Coffee table books magnify that. And as a child I was smaller, so the books felt much bigger to me.

The house I live in now is just too small for a coffee table. We had one years ago and got rid of it when we had a rambunctious toddler who was apt to wipe out on hard pieces of furniture. It never returned.

I was looking at a description online of a beautiful art book yesterday and suddenly wondered, “Do people buy coffee table books anymore?” And, along with that, “Do people have coffee tables as much as they used to?” They really were de rigeur in my childhood. 

I’ve seen people put television remotes on coffee tables these days. They didn’t exist back then. And, even if they had, I’m not sure they would have earned a place on the coffee table, which seems to me to have been a display place for the artifacts which showed you were a Nice Family in a Nice Neighborhood. You subscribed to Time Magazine and House Beautiful. You had a collection of Normal Rockwell paintings or autumn scenes in New England, beautifully bound. One lovely paperweight of cut glass or an eye catching souvenir from your trip to Hawaii.

Coffee table books were also a sign of status because they were exceptionally expensive. My mother found a way around that by regularly checking them out from our local library’s bookmobile. Our coffee table content was regularly refreshed by her choice selections. 

Now we have smart phones and tablet devices and laptops that go everywhere with us. We can see all of Norman Rockwell’s paintings or autumn scenes in Vermont with just one click. We have the content of all the coffee table books in the world at our fingertips. Do we lose something without the sensory experience of holding it in our hands and turning the pages?

What about you? Do you have a coffee table? If so, what is on it? And, do you own any coffee table books? Do you think that the coffee table genre may be doomed by our easy access to online images?

Tell me. 

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