Spectacular full-color photographs and a fascinating text trace the history of glassmaking in America, from the functional bottles, bowls, flasks, goblets, and oil lamps of colonial times to stunning pieces of contemporary glass art. 140 full-color photographs.

"This book is an attempt to present the history of glass through the collections of The Corning Museum of Glass. Opened in 1951, the museum has acquired through gift and purchase nearly twenty thousand glasses from all periods, and displays one of the most comprehensive collections of glass in the world"--Introduction, p. 9.

This book is an attempt to present the history of glass through the collections of The Corning Museum of Glass. Opened in 1951, the museum has acquired through gift and purchase nearly twenty thousand glasses from all periods, and displays one of the most comprehensive collections of glass in the world.

"Glass can be decorative or utilitarian, and its forms often reflect technological innovations and social change. Drawing on an insightful selection from the Yale University Art Gallery and other collections at Yale, American Glass illuminates the vital and often intimate roles that glass has played in the nation's art and culture. Spectacularly illustrated, the publication showcases eighteenth-century mold-blown vessels, nineteenth-century pressed glass, innovative studio work, and luminous stained-glass windows by John La Farge and Louis Comfort Tiffany, the latter reproduced as a lush gatefold. These are considered alongside beguiling objects that broaden our expectations of glass and speak to the centrality of the medium in American life, including one of the oldest complex microscopes in the United States, an early Edison light bulb, glass-plate photography, jewelry, and more. With an essay on the history of collecting American glass and discussions of each object that present new scholarship, this engaging book tells the long and rich history of glass in America--from prehistoric minerals to contemporary sculptures"--Dust jacket front flap.

Spectacular full-color photographs and a fascinating text trace the history of glassmaking in America, from the functional bottles, bowls, flasks, goblets, and oil lamps of colonial times to stunning pieces of contemporary glass art. 140 full-color photographs.