For his bed, Avedon envisioned a system by which many books would be within arm’s reach. The structure, designed by Brian Tolle and built by Jim Gratson, is mahogany. But Tolle got the idea for the containers from cleaning out a shed at his Catskills house: “I found an old Bear Mountain water-cooler crate.” Tolle first had 100 cardboard boxes made so that Avedon could play with the configuration. Avedon’s book collection included a rare 34-volume set of Christian Zervos’s Pablo Picasso catalogue raisonné (he was also fond of Proust). Avedon commissioned the artist Christopher Hewat to make cameras out of brass, as seen on the right. Other brass objects by Hewat, like the book, were gifts.