Book Title : English Pressed Glass 1839-1900
Author : Raymond Slack
Published By : Barrie & Jenkins Ltd
Date of Publication : 1987
ISBN : 0 7126 1871 6
Pages : 208
Raymond Slack has been interested in pressed glass for over 20 years and has been researching this book for 10 years. He serves on the publications committee of the Glass Circle and his articles have been published in Art and Antiques and The Antique Dealer and Collectors Guide. He acts as consultant to Shirley Warren, the well known antique glass dealer, and assists writers and researchers through his extensive private library of books and manuscripts on glass.
Biography of Raymond Slack from English Pressed Glass 1839-1900
The book is comprehensively illustrated with one hundred black and white images, plus thirteen colour plates. The illustrations include depictions of manufacturing processes, patents, advertisements, pattern book pages and photographs of glass objects. It is rare to encounter more than two consecutive pages of text with no illustrations.
Evidence and sources are provided throughout the book, including quotes from the Pottery Gazette and local newspapers. These are listed in the back of the book, just before the bibliography.
The book contains three chapters
- Early History
- Glass for the people
- The origins of the trade
- The process of pressing glass
- The first manufacturers
- Manufacturers in the North-East
- Sowerby Ellison Glass Works Ltd
- George Davidson & Co
- Henry Greener & Co
- Neville Glass Works
- W.H.Heppell & Co.
- Edward Moore & Co.
- Lancashire Manufacturers
- John Derbyshire
- Molineaux, Webb & Co
- Burtles, Tate & Co
- Minor Manufacturers
Significant space is given to Sowerby Ellison at fourty-two pages, which includes sixteen pages containing illustrations only. The section on George Davidson contains nineteen pages, whilst Henry Greener has seventeen pages. The other manufacturers have considerably less space, with a total of fourteen pages for all the Lancashire manufacturers.
A comprehensive appendix details registration marks, trade designs and follows with a comprehensive list of design registrations.
The other features of the book include acknowledgements, contents, epilogue, glossary and index.
Opinion
If, like me, you are interested in pressed glass produced in the North-East of England during the Victorian era, then this book can be a valuable resource. However, if your interest is in manufacturers from other regions, or eras, it could prove disappointing.
Heart Of Glass 