Ebooks

A selection of ebooks on different aspects of the history of design, decoration and craft. These detailed publications have been produced in order to expand in book form some of the subjects covered by The Textile Blog site. However, they are not compilations of previous articles banded together in book form, but original pieces of work that stand on their own, separate to any of the articles that may appear on The Textile Blog.

All books are in PDF format as that is, at the moment at least, the best format in which to keep the books in their highest quality regarding the rich illustration. PDF format also allows these books to be either partially or fully printed, if you should wish to do so.  

Although prices are shown in local UK currency (GBP), all currencies are accepted, as the payment system used is the near universal Paypal, which was chosen to make life easier for everyone.

Clicking on the Preview link clearly marked for each book title, will take you a more detailed article of the title, which will include a number of sample pages.


 The Pattern Work of A W N Pugin

The Pattern Work of A W N Pugin is an inspiration sourcebook, which is entirely devoted to image work. Therefore the book contains 100 images of unique Pugin designs, many of which were originally intended for embroidery. All are full colour, and while the book has a short introduction and index of the illustrations, the rest is left to the work of Pugin himself, which is as it should be.

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This book contains 110 pages and 100 illustrations £7.99 GBP













The Pattern Work of William Morris

The Pattern Work of William Morris is an inspiration sourcebook, which is entirely devoted to image work. Therefore the book contains 105 images of 88 unique William Morris designs and those produced for Morris and Co. All are full colour, and while the book has a short introduction and index of the illustrations, the rest is left to the work of Morris himself, which is as it should be.

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This book contains 115 pages and 105 illustrations £7.99 GBP

The Design Decoration Craft Reference Guide to Lace

The Design Decoration Craft Guide to Lace is a solely internet driven reference guide. The guide itself is made up of 313 seperate internet links, which cover the many aspects of lace, its history, practical and technical details, as well as the visual. The links are broken up into book and magazine articles, most of which can be downloaded to your computer. The majority of books and magazine articles are in English, although some, by the international nature of the craft of lace, are in French, German and Italian.

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This book contains 50 pages and 23 illustrations £9.99 GBP












The Design Decoration Craft Reference Guide: William Morris

The Design Decoration Craft Reference Guide: William Morris is a solely internet driven reference guide. The guide itself is made up of 473 separate internet links. All of these links are separated into various sections, which include text, imagery and video links all concerned with the subject of William Morris. A number of the links are to articles and books written by Morris himself, as well as those written about Morris both in his lifetime and long after his death. Many of the links to books and magazines are from the nineteenth and early twentieth century; many can also be downloaded if wished.

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This book contains 59 pages and 23 illustrations. £9.99 GBP

Islamic Decoration and Ornament

This title examines Islamic decoration and ornament as seen through the context of Owen Jones 1856 title The Grammar of Ornament. The book deals with Victorian and specifically Jones viewpoint of five different aspects of Islamic decoration ranging from Spain, through Turkey, Egypt, Iran and into India. By examining Islamic decoration through the eyes of Jones we begin to understand how important this form of decoration was to Jones personally, as well as to his design reform ideas regarding nineteenth century British design and manufacturing.

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The book contains 58 pages and 39 illustrations, most of which are in colour. £4.99 GBP

Nature and Surface Pattern

This title examines British textile and wallpaper design work during the mid-nineteenth century and particularly the way nature was represented through surface pattern. This period saw a reform movement within pattern design that tried to emphasise the practical necessities of both nature and surface pattern. The book looks at some of the lectures of Richard Redgrave, a prominent reformer, his ideas on the role of shadow in pattern work, as well as the role that he felt the designer should play in the process of pattern in textile and wallpaper design. It also looks at the influence Indian surface pattern played in the development of pattern reform in Britain during this period.

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The books contains 46 pages and 23 illustrations, most of which are in colour. £4.99 GBP










Pugin the Pattern Designer

This title takes a look at A W N Pugin the pattern designer, rather than as is usual, the architect. Pugin was a consummate decorative artist with an intrinsic understanding of both colour and line. The book concentrates on two of Pugin's most popular and decoratively stunning titles, The Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament and Costume published in 1844, and Floriated Ornament which was published in 1849. Both titles give strong evidence as to the skill that Pugin directed towards his own personal textile, ceramic and wallpaper output, but also gives an indication as to how popular and influential his decorative work proved to be on the decorative arts during and after his lifetime.

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The book contains 40 pages and 20 full colour illustrations. £4.99 GBP

Ann Macbeth and the Glasgow Embroidery Style

This title explores the embroidery style and teaching methods of Ann Macbeth, head of the embroidery department at the Glasgow School of Art from 1908 to 1920. Macbeth firmly believed in the economic empowerment of women and therefore the education of girls was one of her main concerns. She believed that through such crafts as embroidery, women could sustain an independent lifestyle. This particular book covers both her own personal and individual creative work as well as that of her wider educational remit, both of which were important in their own way. Macbeth was a designer that was very much part of the contemporary Glasgow style of the early twentieth century and was a name well known in both Scotland and Europe, though probably her lasting legacy is her incorporation of the contemporary within the education system. Her belief in the innate creative ability of the individual is probably her most important contribution to both embroidery and the craft system in general.

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The book contains 50 pages and 31 colour and black and white illustrations. £4.99 GBP

William Morris and the Pattern of Nature

This title explores the William Morris and his passion for and intrinsic understanding of nature and how that was then reflected in the pattern work he produced over a forty year career. Using quotes from Morris himself explaining his approach to both nature and pattern work, as well as a wide range of colour illustrations, this book helps to explore Morris as a practical as well as a visionary designer. Morris firmly believed that the natural world should be the foundation marker for all pattern work, that the inspirational point for any exploration of colour, line and shape in decoration should be inspired from nature. it was a powerful message that came to dominate English pattern design and is as relevant today as it was to the career of Morris himself.

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The book contains 58 pages and 27 colour illustrations. £4.99 GBP








Victorian Medievalism

This title concerns the Victorian interest in the medieval world and how they engineered it to fit in with their own ideals and beliefs in the nineteenth century. Instead of concentrating solely on the Gothic Revival, the book deals with the much larger Victorian love affair with medievalism. Therefore, while chapters do deal with the main areas of the Gothic Revival period, there are also chapters on William Morris, the Arthurian tapestries of Edward Burne-Jones and the role that medievalism played in the early English Arts and Crafts movement. The belief in a revived, reimagined, even refocused medievalism was a fundamental part of Victorian design, decoration and craft that lay as a framework on which much on the English decorative arts of the nineteenth, and indeed, twentieth centuries were built upon.

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The book contains 46 pages with 23 colour illustrations. £4.99 GBP

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