As the Fall season of art openings and events escalates here in New York, there’s never been a better time to resort to a quiet library full of books on art and design. So, this week DART resumes its Bookcases department, in which artists and designers are invited to pimp their bookcases. We are pleased to continue this series with designer and artist, Paul Buckley, former Senior VP/Executive Creative Director at Penguin Random House and a longtime DART contributor.  

Peggy Roalf: When did you realize that your career was meant to be in the world of books? 

paul buckley: i was so lucky. i was also an extremely driven young person. after coming back from a three-month road trip from pa to belize, i needed to pay rent on my greenpoint apartment. my old studio manager had a sister working in publishing, judy murello, who is still there 35 years later. i got the jr designer job and soon realized i was somewhere that fit me like a glove - so i stayed 34 years. i met my wife ingsu, and one of my best friends, carlos, the first day there. i was driven, but i was also blessedly lucky to find penguin, my life partner, great friends, and so many other fantastic book & art people in my life.

PR: As longtime Senior VP/Executive Creative Director at Penguin Random House, you must own a lot of books. How have you structured your various libraries? How did your home library change when you moved away from the city? 
pb: ingsu does the same basic job; book cover design, so we're drowning in books. we moved to the country in 2022, and anyone in publishing hates moving maybe a bit more than your average person, due to how heavy books are. moving from the city to the country has not changed our book collections. i still love gorgeous photography books, and still keep one of anything i'm proud of, so that’s thousands right there.

what i do pass on, are books i did not work on that i read for pleasure, as you have to draw a line somewhere. so basically, my collection is whatever i designed; photography; art & illustrators; natural history & biology & specifically snakes; graphic novels; books that have interesting production ideas; and lastly, beautiful antique printed oddities. ingsu's are upstairs and mine are downstairs. when the great flood happens, mine will become mold filled bombs, and hers will be spared. as it should be.

PR: What went into your choice of bookcases — any research? Any seen/envied among friends/colleagues? Any particular manufacturer?
pb: these are new shelves from muuto. it is a modular system and each section is its own portable box. so if you want to move, or reconfigure, you just take the clips off and lift each box with its contents still inside/intact. i researched the hell out of shelving for nine months before diving in and purchasing these. *but* they are terrible for displaying the covers you have worked on, which is obviously important in my field. though i did research like crazy, it never dawned on me to make sure trade covers can stand up - which is why you see so many sideways books. i'm often an idiot.

PR: How you organize your art, design and photo books? 
pb: i try to keep like with like in the same area of the shelves so that i can research within them without struggling to find where others in the same category are. of course, i also want to create a harmonious balance and something fun to look at. 

PR: How do you maintain your library? For example, do you periodically take it apart and reorganize, or something along those lines?
pb: nope. life is short and there is much to do. once it’s up and full, that’s it. i'll move the non-book items around as well as any books i might be displaying at any current moment, but the books spine in, are staying put. i know a few people who build their shelves a gradating display of colors based on book spines - and you occasionally see folks do that on social media. these people are potential serial murderers and should be watched very closely. 

And what do you do when you run out of shelf space?
i'm there already. i'll probably quietly move a few of ingsu's books here and there, into a nondescript contractor bag placed deep into the basement, and slip a few of mine in their place and put a framed something or other in front of the spines blocking their view. i've also done this while neighbors are on vacation.

PR: What are the best and worst things about moving collection of this magnitude? 
pb: the best part is reconnecting with each book. not so much the ones i have designed; i am talking about the art monographs and beautiful antique book objects. the worst part is every time you do a move a number of books inevitably sustain some degree of damage.  

PR: What are the best bookcases you have ever seen and what do you envy about them?
pb: i think those old built-ins that take up all four walls of a room, like you see in old english palaces are so amazing; especially the libraries with a large natural history element on display, and tapestries hanging above and a great slew of wonderful carpets on the floor. some love the beach, i’d rather vacation in those rooms if one could. 

PR: Now that you work from home as an illustrator/designer, has your research process changed? 
pb: no, it remains the same. i’ve always loved photo and illustrator research. in the office, being asked for help in sourcing illustrators was my most common request and i love spending wonderful hours perusing the work of others. there is a neverending march of new and old wonderful things to see. it may be the best part of the job, now and then.  

PR: Do you remember the first work of art you ever purchased? Why did it catch your attention? 
pb: i don't buy a lot of art. my father was so prolific as a painter that the walls of each of his children's homes are covered in his work. late in life, my mother took up painting and now her wonderful pieces are all over our walls. i was an illustrator, so my work is sprinkled in there as well, as are various posters i and others have designed. i'm much more happy owning glaser's signed and framed dylan than a piece of non-family created fine art. but to answer your question, my first purchase was as an SVA illustration student purchasing a silkscreen by my favorite teacher, david Sandlin: the land of 1,000 beers. i love it. it has hung over the booze bottles of any home i have ever lived in since i was 21.

PR: Do you consider being a bibliophile a special form of madness? 
pb: no. not being one is the madness. i once had a publisher whose office was empty: just her, the chair, a desk, and a computer. clearly, she was incredibly organized to be able to control her world just through that monitor, and it was its own kind of impressive agenda. i don’t want that for myself. but there is so much truth in the notion that our possessions weigh us down, and as i get older the thoughts of the more you own, the more you have to take care of, become stronger. for now, this is great, but maybe someday, i will want to donate a chunk of my library, as i lighten all of my life’s collected items overall. one's things can become a lot more than one needs.  

propaganda: I attended SVA on an illustration scholarship. As a child I was hell bent on becoming an illustrator, and my advertising Art Director father made sure that while other kids were getting children's books, I was getting the latest Society of Illustrators annual. But before I moved to NYC to attend SVA, I studied art at a local community college for two years. Starting at age 17, I went to this school a few days a week, and the other days of the week found me commuting 5 hours a day from outside Bucks County to NYC to work at a small paste up shop servicing a few different advertising agencies—again, my father at work landing me a 5$ an hour stat-boy job. I soaked it in and began learning design this way, embracing this gift of a dual arts education. Later I had a thriving illustration career and unimaginable to my younger self, began to fall out of love with it as a fit for my life. Though my love for illustration is clearly reflected in the people I have collaborated with, and the thousands of illustrated covers I've shepherded to the shelves. Once I gave up illustration, I embraced design and art direction and through contacts I made at that paste up studio, I landed an interview in publishing. That last 34 lovely years, and now Paul Buckley Studio is where I hang my hat. You can find me at paulbuckleydesign.com & on insta @paul.buckley  Website:https://www.paulbuckleydesign.com/