She sits in a garden, in a boudoir, on a front step, to all appearances the most conventional of women. She is almost always of a certain class, certainly educated, unlikely to raise her voice. But if we could get a glimpse of that book, that letter, that newspaper in her hands, we might be surprised.

Women read not only to lose themselves but to find themselves, to find a code that will decrypt their existences. Here are twelve images that we invite you to decode, asking yourself who these women were, what they sought in books, how the printed word affected their lives. Quotations about readers and reading accompany the images. [from the back cover]

CONTENTS:
Artist unknown (French)
Portrait of a Lady Reading, sixteenth century

Alfred Chantrey Corbould (British, 1852-1920)
A Girl Reading in a Sailing Boat, 1869

Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (French, 1796-1875)
The Reader Crowned with Flowers, or, Virgil's Muse, 1845

Walter Crane (British, 1845-1915)
At Home: A Portrait, 1872

Johann Hamza (Austrian, 1850-1927)
On the Terrace, n.d.

Henry John Hudson (British, 1862-1911)
The Letter, n.d.

Gustave Léonard de Jonghe (Belgian, 1829-1893)
Idle Moments, n.d.

Peter Kraemer I (German, 1823-1907)
Reading the Letter, n.d.

Carl Larsson (Swedish, 1853-1919)
Portrait of Dora Lamm, c. 1900

Auguste Macke (German, 1887-1914)
Elizabeth Reading, 1911

Laurits Andersen Ring (Danish, 1854-1933)
At Breakfast, 1898

Toma Giacchino (Italian, 1836-1891)
The Reader, 1870-1875