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Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. => Glass Books => Topic started by: David E on April 09, 2008, 01:00:20 PM

Title: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on April 09, 2008, 01:00:20 PM
Don't be put off by Dusty Tomes! (whoever he is!)

Quite often overlooked, but a great source of information for vintage glass, is the out-of-print publications: in this context I date this type of book prior to 1980. They can be a wonderful resource for collectors, vendors and researchers as they provide a contemporary source of information. Here are three notable ones that I have:

1946: English Glass, W.B. Honey, Collins

c.1955: Making Pottery and Glassware in Britain (reprinted from various Pottery Gazette & Glass articles), Scott Greenwood Publications (arrived today!)

1956: British Table and Ornamental Glass, J.M. Angus-Butterworth, Leonard Hill Books Ltd.

Plus a whole bunch of The Ideal Home and Decorative Art annuals that provide good glimpses into glassware of that year.

While many of the books listed above are illustrated mainly with monochrome photographs, do not let this put you off! The majority can be picked up quite cheaply from Abebooks.co.uk (or .com) and other online booksellers.

Mods:   While this can be eventually moved to the new 'Book' forum, initially it will gain more exposure here to benefit others.

Any more that can be suggested, which I should buy? :-\
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Glen on April 09, 2008, 02:30:36 PM
I enjoy "vintage" glass books too.

One of my favourites is:
"Iridescent Glass" by Larry Freeman (introduction by Frederick Carder). 1956, 1964. Century House, NY

Then of course, if 1981 counts as "vintage":
"Decorative Victorian Glass" by Cyril Manley. 1981. Ward Lock

Glen
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: KevinH on April 09, 2008, 03:46:02 PM
1920 - Irish Glass An Account of Glass-Making in Ireland From The XVIth Century To The Present Day, M. S. Dudley Westropp, M.R.I.A., Herbert Jenkins
[ Yes, I know, an original is not easily found and it usually costs a packet if you can find it ... just thought I'd admit to once having parted with a good sum of money in my quest for information!
But it was apparently reprinted in 1978, so maybe I could have saved some money??? ]

1955 - English and Irish Cut Glass 1750 - 1950, E. M. Elville, Country Life

1978 - Victorian Table Glass and Ornaments, Barbara Morris, Barrie & Jenkins

And for good, solid, basic info ...

1923 - Glass-Making in England, Harry J. Powell, C.B.E., Cambrdige University Press

1968 (reprint of 1849 publication) - Curiosities of Glafs Making, Apsley Pellat, The Ceramic Book Company
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Lustrousstone on April 09, 2008, 04:09:09 PM
I have just enjoyed the the Country Life Pocket Book of Glass by Geoffrey Wills, Country Life 1966
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Frank on April 09, 2008, 07:36:15 PM
The Glass Industry of Germany during the period 1939-45 by Prof H Moore, The final report that was based on the detailed report already in the Glass Study and five others. So a good rounding off. Also kindly donated by David for the Glass Study, the earlier report being donated by Christine. Thank you folks.

It gives a good insight into the glass technology of the period, as well as some of the international relationships.

Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: josordoni on April 10, 2008, 09:26:43 AM
I like the Glass Collector by Percival, informative but also quite amusing it is so emphatic in its views...

Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Lustrousstone on April 10, 2008, 09:44:08 AM
My report was on the UK industry  :huh: , wasn't it?
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Frank on April 10, 2008, 11:35:23 AM
My report was on the UK industry  :huh: , wasn't it?

Oops yes it was  :-[

Board of Trade, Working Party Reports, HAND-BLOWN DOMESTIC GLASSWARE, 1947, and it is partly used as an example of the Glass-Study contents http://www.glass-study.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=145&Itemid=7

and also discussed here http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,17918.0.html

Pellatt's - Curiosities of Glass Making is also lined up for full digitisation in the Study too.
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on November 27, 2009, 02:55:41 PM
A little more diverse, but to anyone interested in industrial glass, such as me, then:

Glass in Architecture and Decoration, 1937, by Raymond McGrath & A.C. Frost

Massive book (on par with Charles Hajdamach's 20th Century British Glass (http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,30192.0.html), but 664pp), measuring 24 x 32.5 x 5cm. Plenty of monochrome photographs. Being on the cusp of Modernism, this particular style does feature quite heavily, in particular some stunning engraved glass examples. One example is a sandblasted decoration to a window of polar bears, by Eileen McGrath (presumably related to the author - does anyone know?)

Can be bought through the usual online sellers, such as Alibris (http://www.alibris.co.uk/booksearch?binding=&mtype=&keyword=Glass+in+Architecture+and+Decoration+&hs.x=11&hs.y=10&hs=Submit) and Abebooks (http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=glass&sts=t&tn=%22glass+in+architecture+and+decoration%22&x=44&y=10) for about £24 upwards. (Also check the .com variants)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: jcherepy on July 26, 2014, 08:50:02 PM
Free ebooks at book.google.com

Glass by Edward Dillon, MA - First published 1907

Collecting old glass, English and Irish by Sir James Henry Yoxall - MCMXVI (for you non-romans, 1916  :) )

Vitage enough for you?   ;D

That's all I've found so far.

Bill
Grayson, GA USA

Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: chopin-liszt on July 27, 2014, 11:20:59 AM
I've just found some real treasures.

"Dominic Labino: A Decade of glass Craftsmanship 1964-1974", a small booklet of images of Labino's work produced by Pilkington, the V&A and Toledo museums. Pub '74-75

"Visual Art in Glass" by Dominic Labino, an Art Horizons Series book, pub. 1968

and Geoffrey Beard's "International Modern Glass" ('76) which contains the most amazing images  (B&W) of tons of Whistler's work - so it doesn't matter that they're B&W!

I did get another book, but I don't know what to do with it really, because I think it's in Czech.

So it's available to anybody here who can use it, I'm quite happy just to pass it on. ;D

Published in 1948 by Aventinum, writen by N. Melnikova-Papouskova, it is called
"Skleneny sen Ludviky Smrckove"


Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on July 27, 2014, 11:34:37 AM
Thanks Bill, and welcome to the GMB! Nice to see a few with a US perspective, if you find any.

I'll have to go through my library and update with a few more I have since found.

English Glass, W A Thorpe, pub: Adam & Charles Black, 1949 (1st pub in 1935) is another.
I guess the later version is better given all the updates that would have been included.

I could go to more with books dating to the 19th century, but the topics are rather specific!  ;)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on September 12, 2014, 12:11:59 AM
Always picking up old books on glass...The Peacock & the Lions by Shelagh Murray...bought on Ebay as was my Raymond Slack English Pressed Glass 1830-1900....Collectable Glass by Jane Douglas 1st published in 1961 and Glass Art Nouveau and Art Deco by Albrecht Bangert a Christies Colectors Guide ..Victorian Glass by Betty O'Looney published by Victoria & Albert Museum...all three picked up in various bookshops in Hay-on-Wye. But I also pick up old Auction Catalogues, usually in charity shops!!  ;)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on September 15, 2014, 07:13:50 PM
personally I don't consider that members who live in or near to Hay-on-Wye should be eligible to post here  -  they have access to a far great selection of books than is fair to the rest of us ;) ;)

If I'd known better then I wouldn't have bought Daisy Wilmer's 'Old English Glass (1910 I think).

today I was offered a copy of Westropp's 'Irish Glass ....", but since I have two copies of Phelps Warren's similarly named offering (the better revised volume), I didn't go for it  -  was that a mistake??

and coming back to comments made recently about books..............both of RSW's books  -  'The Beauty of Modern Glass' and 'Modern Glass' are well worth the money if you're into mid C20 ish modernist/Scandi material.

and the other recent comment was re the Studio publications which started life around 1890 and continued to somewhere around 1960, I think.
Only b. & w. pix, and not that many of them, but if you can get the volumes cheaply enough they cover both glass and ceramics, with those from the earlier period showing interesting Powell material  -  plus they're great if you like nouveau and deco design.

I think Dusty Tomes was a friend of Max Headroom and Polly Filla ;)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on September 15, 2014, 07:19:33 PM
knew there was something else.......

I have Kenneth M. Wilson's volume one on Mt. Washington glass  -  but I can't seem to find a copy of volume two  -  has it been published yet does anyone know, or is it simply far more scarce than the first volume???
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on September 15, 2014, 10:29:24 PM
 ;D Shall I have a look for it next time I am in Hay-on-Wye ???  ;)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on September 16, 2014, 08:33:51 AM
by all means do  -  but judging by volume one, it won't be cheap.             But seriously, can't imagine you'll find it  -  I certainly can't see it on line anywhere.

I've had a life long love of browsing 2nd hand book shops  -  could spend all my days in them  -  in fact looking at the interior of my house believe I have.                          Have always meant to visit H-on-W for a day or so, the trouble is finding the space in the house for whatever I bought - and buy I would. ;D
Certainly if you see any volumes of the Studio, let me know, and I'll make the trip.
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on September 18, 2014, 10:09:19 PM
You would probably need a week to browse all the bookshops in Hay...some are so large and higglypiggly I usually lose my husband for a few hours in one shop...while I browse the charity shops and the excellent antique centre for glass...perfect day out all around... ;D I will have a look next time we are there we usually go a few times a year.
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on April 11, 2015, 11:05:24 AM
I am off to Hay today will have a look... have you tried this website excellent for books and catalogues on Glass.....http://www.books-on-collectables.eu
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on April 11, 2015, 01:10:21 PM
I have Kenneth M. Wilson's volume one on Mt. Washington glass  -  but I can't seem to find a copy of volume two  -  has it been published yet does anyone know, or is it simply far more scarce than the first volume???

Well ... Amazon list it, but with it having just two pages! However, you can always try here (http://www.gettextbooks.co.uk/isbn/9780872901834) and pay a mere $44,648.20  :o

Fortunately, the seller does appear to have a change of heart (http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?invid=11770431330&isbn=9780872901834&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=GuWPtmTDDdQ&utm_campaign=2&siteID=GuWPtmTDDdQ-G6u3y__SZC08E9TwgqcVjA), but it's still $954. Rather confusing as it looks like Alibris have muddled Vol.I and Vol.II
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on April 11, 2015, 02:06:39 PM
thanks Angela and David.             After we spoke of this in September last year, I phoned the Antiques Collectors' Club people for whom Vol. one was printed - in China - who told me they had no record of No. two having been published, so I took them at their word and forgot the matter.
Judging by the ISBN Nos., it does appear that the volume on Alibris and Amazon is the long awaited second volume  -  I notice that Jane Spillman (now retired from the Corning I believe) is sharing authorship with Kenneth M. Wilson on this one.

Not sure about the reasons for high prices  -  like many of these things it's very limited market - certainly in the U.K. anyway.            Volume one had a new price of $95., and mine came from a second hand shop in the Charing X Rd., that seems to remainder various obscure tomes, and for which I paid £39., which seems a lot for a book that I'll use only rarely I suppose.

Pity I missed No. 2 in 2011 - it probably had a new price of somewhere around $100 - $130, but no way I can justify paying these recent secondhand silly prices.

But you never know, and if you can find me a second hand copy in Hay Angela  -  do let me know, with price, and I'll contact the seller and try to buy  -  but don't somehow think you're going to find a pre-owned copy at an affordable price - not yet at least.
I'll speak again to the ACC, and see if they have any intentions of publishing under their own imprint.

As you can imagine, these books are truly sumptuous offerings, and even if you don't get to need States id's very often they are books they have immense interest for all glassaholics. :)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: essi on April 11, 2015, 06:05:59 PM
Hello Paul s. stopped of at an antiques centre today on the way home from work, to my surprise saw about a dozen or so studio magazines. They seemed to date from about the first world war period. I flicked through every page hoping to find some articles on British glass but no luck.
There was a small article about leach pottery, some good pictures of furniture from that period and modernist Russian stage sets.
I think they were priced at £5 for two.
Let me know if you need any details.
Tim   
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on April 11, 2015, 10:17:05 PM
thanks for thinking of me Tim.           You say magazines, which presumably are only parts of a full volume, and I do know that the 'Studio' was published in parts (whether monthly or what I'm unsure).

I tend to collect the Studio only when bound into full volumes (think they started some time around 1890), and have been trying to buy only those issued during the art nouveau period (c. 1890 to about 1915 ish), then breaking and picking up again around 1925 to about 1940 for the deco years  -  think they went on to some time about the 1960's.
Appreciate the offer, but I now have most of these years, and have also found the Studio year books of decorative art equally useful - they're a little thinner, and concentrate more on contemporary design for ceramics, glass, fabrics, etc., rather than architecture, and art.
Condition is sometimes poor, but provide content is clean then no problem.
None of these has over much on glass, but Whitefriars, Scandi, Chance, T/Webb and Webb Corbett are covered with fairly good pix, to some extent in all of the volumes.
Not often as cheap as I'd like, but they give a good view of changes in trends for decorative and domestic styles.
If you do see them at reasonable prices, I'd suggest buying - they will only become more scarce as the years go by. :)
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on April 11, 2015, 10:22:27 PM
Well had a fabulous day in Hay....sadly no luck with the book Paul there was a rather nice book called 'The Kosta Boda Book of Glass'...but I resisted buying it, as I had found too much glass to buy so feeling very pleased with my trip. Great selection of cloud glass in the Antique Centre.
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on September 07, 2015, 03:39:48 PM
Wouldn't have minded that Kosta Boda book, Angela, but that was six months ago!  :-X

A couple more vintage books for the ever-burgeoning shelves:

An Illustrated Dictionary of Glass, Harold Newman, 1977 - 351pp and a great resource for ID'ing and about the processes used.

Dansk Glas 1825–1925, Larsen, Riismĝller, Schlüter, 1963 (but there is a later revised version in 1974) - 412pp and a must for any Danish glass collector.
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on September 07, 2015, 05:36:16 PM
or should that be 'a collector of Danish glass' ;)           Do we have any Danes here??   currently, I'm not so sure.

I think Ivo was waxing lyrical about this book, but said that translation not easy.         I think it came up as being useful when talking about examples of drinking glasses/tumblers in Europe -  apropos of the fact that quality English text books, showing evolution and shapes for C19 material, are thin on the ground.              I'd probably buy if it wasn't too expensive, but since you now have it David, we can all come to you for advice ;)
Perhaps we should send Angela a list of what to buy when next she visits ;)

Would agree that Newman is worth having.

If anyone wants to buy me vol. 2 of  'Mt. Washington & Pairpoint Glass' for my birthday -  it's in February ;) ;D
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: David E on September 07, 2015, 05:42:58 PM
"Danish glass collector" is fine. I think the meaning is clear enough and I don't worry that much about grammar until Christine corrects it.

Have you tried looking through this little lot.

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,59085.0.html
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Paul S. on September 07, 2015, 06:06:24 PM
if you think that the Danish book would be useful to me  -  re drinking glasses/tumblers etc. - do let me know some time David :)

thanks for the reminder of the book list  -  and p.s. I wasn't being too serious  -  just my liking for a little contentious humour ;D
Title: Re: Vintage Books - Why Buy Them?
Post by: Simba on September 12, 2015, 10:15:44 PM
David I went back to Hay today but the Kosta Boda book had gone 😕 not many glass books on sale, really had to hunt around ....but at least I found some nice pieces of glass