AROUND HOME : American Vernacular BY JIM KEMP (Viking; 1987)

EVERY PAGE OF this volume is a testimony to Kemp’s love affair with regional American domestic architecture, which he has chosen to define as “vernacular.” By means of an informative text and a rich collection of color photographs, the reader is soon familiar with a portfolio of regional styles: Shotgun and Cajun Cottage architecture to the monumental Camp Style of the Adirondacks. New England architecture, of course, is documented, from the Nantucket Cottage to the Saltbox. Some of the most dramatic photographs deal with the Midwest Prairie School and the Adobe architecture of the Southwest. In almost every case, the author has chosen an antique house in a particular style and contrasted it with an imaginative interpretation of it by a skilled contemporary architect. ($40)