Topic: The best 20th century glass book for the beginner?

[8ootneck]

Hi,can a anybody give us some advice as to what is the best 20th century glass book for the beginner,all replies welcome,thanks very much.

[Anne]

Hello and welcome to the board. Are you interested in art glass, factory glass, pressed glass, British made, American, European, Scandinavian, Czech? There are so many books that to recommend one without knowing your area of interest might be a tad tricky, but we'll do our best.

[8ootneck]

Hi Anne thanks for the fast reply,i would be interested in British made/Art Glass and European many thanks.

[astrid]

One of the better books to start with IMO is "Miller's 20th Century Glass" by Andy McConnell (not to be confused with Judith Miller's 20th Century Glass). It's out of print, but I bought mine secondhand and was very happy with it. Many books will cover early 20th century glass (Gallé, Lalique, etc), but this one also pays attention to the glass made after WWII.

The only drawback is that certain areas of European glass are not very well covered in the book. It doesn't say much about postwar Czech, Dutch, German, Belgian and French glass, to name a few, so if you want to check those areas out, you'll have to do additional research.

Apart from books, I found that admiring the webposted collections of fellow members on the board is a nice way to explore and learn... and they often link to other collections as well.

Have fun browsing!

Astrid

[8ootneck]

Thanks for the fast reply and information Astrid,i will have a look at the following book -"Miller's 20th Century Glass" by Andy McConnell,many thanks.

[chopin-liszt]

Lesley Jackson's "20th Century Factory Glass" is another good and reasonably comprehensive introductory book, though published in 2000, it is obviously missing the newer information which has come to light since then. (although it was one of the first books to recognise Michael Harris' important contribution, the info. is sparse)

[ckscot]

As a beginner myself I'd echo what Astrid says.  I've found Andy McConnell's book to be the one I return to again and again.  I have also treated myself to Charles Hajdamach's 20th C British Glass book, which covers the topic in great detail.  If you can get hold of it cheaply, Millers Collectables Price Guide for 2009 has over 70 pages on glass by Mark Hill which I've found useful.  It's full price is £19.99 but I'd imagine it could be found for under a tenner. It doesn't cover French Belgian or German but it does give four pages or so to Czech glass, carnival glass , Scandinavian glass etc - a light taster.  Similarly, Miller's little guides to Glass of the 20's & 30s and of 50s & 60s might whet your appetite.  They should be findable on Ebay quite cheaply.
There is also Judith Miller's 20th century Glass book, which I have, but don't seem to use much, somehow the way it's organised doesn't seem to work so well for me, but it might be worth a look.
But before spending very much money, I'd suggest exploring this website and its links to others to get a feel for what's out there.  There is a huge amount of info and expertise available on this message board and it acts as a brilliant portal into the bewildering/illuminating amount of info on the web as a whole.

[8ootneck]

Thanks very much for all the replies and information,one more question does any off these books give you the value of the pieces,thanks.

[Lustrousstone]

Value is subjective and out of date the instant it is printed, though some of them do give an idea (mostly those that were also sold in the US market).

It really depends what you want. Do you want a book for ID purposes? One to find out how glass is made? Or one for general looking and getting a feel for glass? You might be better deciding on an area or two of interest and then going for more specialised books. Almost all the books mentioned are taster books. I have them all but rarely use any of them for ID purposes, though I dribble on the pictures.

[8ootneck]

Hi Lustrousstone,i would like to ID them as i go to car boot sales and charity shops and would like to have more knowledge in the pieces that are on offer and what they are worth,general piece off mind really,thanks.