Gina Hyams, author of “The Tanglewood Picnic.”

The Tanglewood picnic has a long and notorious tradition. It can be sumptuous, with silver candelabra and linen place settings, or take simpler forms, but it always represents the height of taste and elegance. A new book, “The Tanglewood Picnic,” documents that tradition, using a profusion of illustrations, a sprinkling of recipes and a lively and well-informed narrative. The author is Gina Hyams, a Berkshires native who is married into the Barrett family of Norfolk. She will sign books at Aija, to coincide with the Norfolk Day celebration at the farmers market, on August 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Photo by Carrie Snyder.