A selection of books 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 on this site are in PDF format and can therefore easily be downloaded to your computer to keep or print off as is your wish. PDF was chosen for its universality, its compactness, and for its quality.
Art Nouveau and Nature
This title deals with the intimate connection that Art Nouveau had with nature. It deals with the unique perspective the movement had with the natural world, having at its core a belief that nature was a true reflection of the human psyche and that only through embracing nature in a practical, emotional and spiritual dimension could humanity really be able to understand itself and the planet it inhabited. This book celebrates Art Nouveau, nature, and human creativity, the entwining of all three aspects into one beautiful and fundamentally important theme. That theme is just as relevant today, if not more so, than it was a hundred years ago.
This is a pdf format book.
This book contains 52 pages and all 24 full page illustrations are in colour.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/cKSn
Medieval Decoration and Ornament
This title examines medieval decoration and ornament as seen through the eyes of Owen Jones 1856 title
The Grammar of Ornament.
The book deals with Victorian and specifically Jones viewpoint of three
different aspects of European medieval decoration, Byzantine, Celtic and medieval proper. By examining medieval decoration
through the eyes of Jones we begin to understand how important this form
of decoration was to Jones personally, as well as to the artists, designers and crafts people of the nineteenth century, as it has become in many ways, how we have come to define much of the Victorian decorative era.
This is a pdf format book.
This book contains 40 pages and all 17 of the full colour medieval illustrations from Jones book.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/clhd
The Embroidery of Margarete von Brauchitsch
This title examines the changes made to embroidery at the beginning of the twentieth century, where embroidery became, for a short while at least, an integral part of the early Modernist movement.
The Embroidery of Margarete von Brauchitsch describes how embroidery was pivotal in bringing together the elements
of the new contemporary interiors of the early twentieth century into a
harmonised and balanced whole. The German embroidery designer Margarete
von Brauchitsch and her work for contemporary interiors have been chosen as the focus for this book.
This is a pdf format book.
This book contains 43 pages and 32 illustrations.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/v6C3
The Textile Blog Reference Guide to Lace
This reference guide is meant to form an internet focused guide to the subject of lace, both historical and practical. It can be used as a support for those in Further and Higher education, or as an accompaniment to continuous or just occasional learning. It is ideal for those with an interest in, or need to explore the long and diverse history of the craft of lace.
This is a pdf format book.
This book contains 47 pages and 272 internet links.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/ELtT
The Textile Blog Reference Guide to William Morris
This reference guide is meant to form an internet focused guide to the life and work of William Morris. It can be used as a support for those in Further and Higher education, or as an accompaniment to continuous or just occasional learning. It is ideal for those with an interest in, or need to explore the life and works of what many see as the founder of both the Arts and Crafts movement, as well as the founder of many of the aesthetics of contemporary design and craft.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 43 pages and 367 internet links.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/HS8x
Islamic Decoration and Ornament
This title examines Islamic decoration and ornament as seen through the eyes of Owen Jones in his 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.
Islamic Decoration and Ornament gives a great insight into how the Victorians viewed Islamic decoration, using it as an inspirational style of pattern work that was to affect the decorative arts in Britain. The book comes with full colour illustrations from Owen Jones original.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 56 pages and 39 illustrations, most of which are in colour.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/kmn0
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.
This is a pdf format book.
The books contains 44 pages and 22 illustrations, most of which are in colour.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/umZb
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.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 38 pages and 19 full colour illustrations.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/X35A
The Embroidery of Ann Macbeth
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.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 47 pages and 30 colour and black and white illustrations.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/s63z
William Morris and the Pattern of Nature
This title explores 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.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 52 pages and 25 colour illustrations.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/kzae
The Victorian World and the Medieval
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.
This is a pdf format book.
The book contains 40 pages with 20 colour illustrations.
Price = £4.99 GBP
To purchase this book follow the direct link:
https://payhip.com/b/z4HN
