Encyclopedia of the Exquisite: An Anecdotal History of Elegant Delights »

JESSICA KERWIN JENKINS was formerly the European editor of W and a senior editor at Women’s Wear Daily. She currently writes for Vogue. She lives in Maine.

Encyclopedia of the Exquisite is a lifestyle guide for the Francophile and the Anglomaniac, the gourmet and the style maven, the armchair traveler and the art lover. It’s an homage to the esoteric world of glamour that doesn’t require much spending but makes us feel rich.

Taking a cue from the exotic encyclopedias of the sixteenth century, which brimmed with mysterious artifacts, Jessica Kerwin Jenkins’s Encyclopedia of the Exquisite focuses on the elegant, the rare, the commonplace, and the delightful. A com­pendium of style, it merges whimsy and practicality, traipsing through the fine arts and the worlds of fashion, food, travel, home, garden, and beauty.

Each entry features several engaging anecdotes, illuminating the curious past of each enduring source of beauty. Subjects covered include the explosive history of champagne; the art of lounging on a divan; the emergence of “frillies,” the first lacy, racy lingerie; the ancient uses of sweet-smelling saffron; the wild riot incited by the appearance of London’s first top hat; Julia Child’s tip for cooking the perfect omelet; the polarizing practice of wearing red lipstick during World War II; Louis XIV’s fondness for the luscious Bartlett pear; the Indian origin of badminton; Parliament’s 1650 attempt to suppress Europe’s beauty mark fad; the evolution of the Japanese kimono; the pil­grimage of Central Park’s Egyptian obelisk; and the fanciful thrill of dining alfresco.

Cleverly illustrated, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite is an ode to life’s plenty, from the extravagant to the eccentric. It is a cele­bration of luxury that doesn’t necessarily require money.

The Barnes & Noble Review

It might be easy to dismiss this book as a trifle, and matters aren't helped by rococo illustrations and blurbs on the dust jacket from such literary authorities as Sarah Jessica Parker and the designer Michael Kors. But if the form of Encyclopedia of the Exquisite plays up its author's insouciance, the text itself nevertheless carries a surprising authority. Entries can jump across centuries and disciplines: the section on "Enthusiasm" harvests ideas from Hobbes, Diderot, Shelley, Blake, Wordsworth, and Germaine de Staël. And Kerwin Jenkins provides a 40-page bibliography, set in eye-straining type -- this must be the only book to cite both Harvard's Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Vogue's Diana Vreeland.