10 BEAUTIFUL GLASS BOOKS NOW

This week, we are celebrating the beauty of glass happening right now. We begin with a curated selection of 10 Beautiful Glass books. They include a few lovely volumes dedicated to sea glass, as well as gorgeous monographs of some of the most important glass artists in the world.

1. THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SEA GLASS

Mary Beth Beuke’s sea glass collection is likely the most stunning and elaborate in the world. The glass can at times be difficult to find, especially as it grows more and more scarce with each passing year.

The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass: Finding, Collecting, Identifying, and Using the Ocean's Most Beautiful Stones helps new collectors begin to amass a collection as stunning as Beuke’s with tips to find the glass, as well as information about the different types of glass out there. This book is a collector’s gem.

Skyhorse Publishing (2014).

2. SEA GLASS TREASURES FROM THE TIDE

We love finding jewels on the beach. Green, white and blue glass, smoothed over by years of battering seas, are treasures in their own right. We remember delighting in them as kids, but we love their simple misty beauty even now. Sea Glass Treasures from the Tide, by Cindy Bilbao, is awash with over 100 exquisite color photographs, creating a stunning portfolio of the ocean’s opalescent glass gems.

Countryman Press (2014).

3. THE ART OF SEA GLASS

Trash becomes treasure as discarded bottles, ship parts,  and other glass refuse get transformed by the sea. The Art of Sea Glass, by Tina Lam, is another beautiful book that showcases the beauty of these ocean-tumbled jewels.

Unlike other images of sea glass, which are essentially catalog-oriented, Lam’s images are carefully planned and designed to create hauntingly beautiful scenes.

The book also provides bits of sea glass lore and tips for finding the beautiful glass for those interested in starting their own sea glass collection.

Down East Books (2014).

4. RENE LALIQUE: ENCHANTED BY GLASS

René Lalique began as a creator of beautiful jewelry. But in the 1890’s, he fell in love with glass, and the rest is beautiful history.

Kelley Jo Elliot explores the artist’s iconic Art Nouveau and Art Deco pieces, as well as his career history, in René Lalique: Enchanted by Glass.

The book includes hundreds of gorgeous color photographs, presenting both Lalique’s creations and the wax and plaster molds and tools he used to create his art.

Yale University Press (2014).

5. BACCARAT: TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS

Esteemed design guru Murray Moss and historian Laurence Benaim explore the long and beautiful history in their new book, Baccarat: Two Hundred and Fifty Years.

Baccarat is an iconic luxury brand that produces some of the most exquisite crystal works in the world, producing high-quality traditional craftsmanship of fine crystal stemware, barware, candelabra, perfume bottles, and jewelry.

Over 400 pages are filled with stunning photographs, original design drawings, and stories, shedding new light on the company’s glamourous range of crystal masterpieces. In addition to the finished objects, the book includes images of their production. We see how the best glassblowers, gilders, engravers, and glass cutters in the world practice their craft.

You will see both Baccarat’s traditional designs, those commissioned by royalty and heads of state, and those done in collaboration with contemporary designers such as Philippe Starck, Andrée Putman, Arik Levy, and Marcel Wanders.

Rizzoli (2013).

6. THE ART GLASS OF LOUIS COMFORT TIFFANY

The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany, by Paul Doros, details the work and process behind some of Tiffany’s greatest glass pieces.

The book focuses on Tiffany’s signature Favrile glass, produced between the 1890s and 1920s, as well as his other extraordinary forms.

Doros’ detailing of the mastery and vision behind each of Tiffany’s different pieces, along with the beautiful glossy depictions of the glass pieces, Tiffany’s beautiful art come alive.

"In what has been described as the definitive account of Louis Comfort Tiffany's art glass, this book comes with the expert insight of author Paul Doros...Plenty of books have been written about Tiffany. Few focus on his art glass. This title is a gem."

– Antique Week

Vendome Press (2013).

7. GALLE LAMPS

Over a brief 4 year period, renowned glass artist Émile Gallé turned his attention to lamps. The results were magnificent. Much of his work takes on an organic feel, as if the glass itself were growing into flower and other plant forms as well as flying birds and insects.

Galle Lamps, by Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha, presents a comprehensive collection of Galle’s incredible creations. Check out lamps that look like mushrooms and fungi emerging from the earth, or ripe gourds forming pendant lights that hang from swirling vines -- with shades and bases aflutter with butterflies, moths, dragonflies, swallows and eagles.

Antique Collectors Club (2013).

8. UNDER GLASS: A VICTORIAN OBSESSION

Glass domes became a popular decorative arts device in Victorian times, used to showcase everything from flowers to seashells to found objects to curiosities. They elevated their subjects so that even the mundane, such as a curl of human hair, became something beautiful to behold.

Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession by John Whitenight, explores the glass dome fascination, with 650 beautiful images accompanied by text thoroughly describing each piece.

The book covers a huge range of quirky and whimsical objects glorified by their glass domes, such as skeleton leaves and phantom bouquets, wool work, glass whimsies; fabric bits, automata mechanical, musical masterworks, and much more.

Schiffer Publishing (2013).

9. COLIN REID GLASS SCULPTURE

Colin Reid Glass Sculpture, by Clare Beth and Kathleen Slater, investigates the incredible glass work of this esteemed contemporary glass artist. With 100 beautiful images and essays by some of the world’s leading glass experts, this elaborately illustrated book spans Reid’s entire career. This book belong on every glass art collector’s shelf.

Lund Humphries (2013).

10. CHIHULY

Written by Donald Kuspit, distinguished professor emeritus of art history and philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Nathalie Bondil, director and chief curator at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Chihuly is a masterpiece work about the master contemporary glass artist.

This beautiful slipcased hardcover set presents the most comprehensive illustrated collection of images and insights, offering the incredible world of Chihuly in full regalia.

Harry N. Abrams (2014).

Read more about Beautiful Glass, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink,Place/Time, Mind/Body and Soul/Impact.

Enter your own images and ideas about Beautiful Glass in this week’s creative Photo Competition. Open for entries now until 11:59 p.m. PT on 10.11.14. If you are reading this after that date, check out the current BN Creative Competition, and enter!

PHOTO CREDITS:

1. Photo: Courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing. Image from “The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass.”
2. Image: Courtesy of Skyhorse Publishing. Mary Beth Beuke: “The Ultimate Guide to Sea Glass.”
3. Image: Courtesy of Countryman Press. Cindy Bilbao: “Sea Glass Treasures from the Tide.”
4. Image: Courtesy of Down East Books. Tina Lam: “The Art of Sea Glass.”
5. Image: Courtesy of Yale University Press. Kelley Jo Elliot: “René Lalique: Enchanted by Glass.”
6. Image: Courtesy of Rizzoli. Murray Moss and Laurence Benaim: “Baccarat: Two Hundred and Fifty Years.”
7. Image: Courtesy of Vendome Press. Paul Doros: “The Art Glass of Louis Comfort Tiffany.”
8. Image: Courtesy of Antique Collectors Club Dist. Alastair Duncan and Georges de Bartha: “Gallé Lamps.”
9. Image: Courtesy of Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. John Whitenight: “Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession.”
10. Image: Courtesy of Lund Humphries Pub Ltd. Clare Beth and Kathleen Slater: “Colin Reid Glass Sculpture.”
11. Image: Courtesy of Harry N. Abrams. Donald Kuspit and Nathalie Bondil: “Chihuly.”