Starting in 1945, under the direction of Lina Bo Bardi and Carlo Pagani, Editorial Domus began publication of the 'Domus Notebooks' which, as the cover page announces, 'help, through illustrated documentation and technical approach, to solve the problem of modern home equipment, according to an efficient and scrupulously selected aesthetic criterion'. The first volume, edited by Vito Latis, is “The books in the house”; the use of the preposition in the, also recurring in other volumes of the series (“The studies in the house”, “The curtains in the house”), underlines how the book element actively participates in the construction of domestic space, subject to a modern way of conceiving the living environment. \nThe library thus becomes the display of Homo Bibliophilus, through which to display one's collection of books; the ordering takes place according to purely personal and therefore arbitrary criteria, while the books themselves, recognizable through the back of the cover, denounce to the guests the interests, aspirations and, sometimes, political affiliations of the inhabitants of the house. \nThe P700 bookcase by Vittorio Introini, produced by Saporiti since 1969, fits perfectly into this new way of conceiving the furniture object as a regulatory and ordering element of the living space. Modular and variable, it is composed of seamless bent steel elements such as shelves, to which are added cabinets, the result of the composition of two paired elements. \nOn the other hand, the books in the series of “The Masters of Contemporary Architecture” published by Il Saggiatore, Alberto Mondadori's extraordinary publishing company, for which Anita Klinz is responsible for the graphic design. The dust jackets are composed of a few elements: the architect's name is in lowercase Cairoli green, while some graphic signs in black emerge from the white background, which allude to constructive forms and cover each volume without interruption. In 1945, Vito Latis could not imagine that soon the library space would be invaded by the television, bringing unboxed wishes from outside in a short time. The bookstore, on the other hand, remains the place where living inexorably merges with the dreams and ambitions of each of us. Defaulted but silent roommates, books spy on us in our privacy and, if questioned, appear from the shelf with unexpected and unprecedented answers, without that disturbing background noise typical of a cathode ray tube.
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