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New Books for Collectors
—
June 2008
Childhood
Treasures: Doll Quilts By and For Children
by MerikayWaldvogel
Reviewed by Robert Reed
(Antique & Collectible News Service)
 |
Childhood Treasures: Doll Quilts By and For Children wonderfully
present a delightful collection of miniature antique quilts dating back
to the early 19th century.
The center of this fine book is the doll quilts carefully and lovingly
selected from the collection of Mary Ghomley. The Ghomley collection is
considered one of the largest of such special textile items in the world.
Each quilt of the 80 quilts, dating from the 1830s through the 1950s, is documented in detail. Moreover, the book includes original quilts from farm and home catalogs of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and vintage photographs of children and their precious dolls. Within the volume is additional information on antique doll beds, plus vintage magazine excerpts of quilt-making endeavors.
“Crib and doll quilts are perhaps the tenderest and personal of quilts,” notes the author Merikay Waldvogel, “treasured not only for their charm but also for the love that went into making them. Antique doll quilts, like all old quilts, connect us with the past. As do other works of art, they reflect the cultural and sociological attitudes of a particular time and place.”
This very worthwhile volume is a virtual treasure chest of these endearing
pieces of cloth made from generations and generations ago.
Waldvogel is a recognized quilt expert and the author of several quilt-related
books including Southern Quilts: Surviving Relics of the Civil War.
The author is also a research fellow at the International Quilt Study
Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she has frequently
lectured and conducted classes.
Childhood Treasures: Doll Quilts By and For Children by Merikay Waldvogel, color illustrated, index, 140 pages, is $24.95 plus shipping from Good Books, 1-800-762-7171.
French Furniture
and Gilt Bronzes: Baroque and Regence
by Gillian Wilson
Reviewed by Robert Reed
(Antique & Collectible News Service)
 |
Essentially the book, French Furniture and Gilt Bronzes, is a breathtaking look at some of the centuries old treasures in the J. Paul Getty Museum.
In particular that look is an admiring one of the Museum's remarkable collection of French decorative arts. From the hundreds of pieces in this memorable assembly, the authors have selected 44 objects to represent the stylistic Baroque and Regence periods.
The French collection at the Museum "contains objects varying greatly in type and material," notes director Michael Brand in a forward for the book, "including such diverse categories as carved-wood and veneered furniture, gilt-bronze light fixtures, firedogs, and ornamental hard stone vases."
Each object in the book — from richly veneered cabinets to finely carved tables and chairs — is described and analyzed in terms of style, use, provenance and published history. There are also further details concerning its construction, alterations, materials, and conservation. This enriching reference serves as a definitive catalog of the world famous museum's collector of French Baroque furniture.
Primary author of this high quality volume is Gillian Wilson retired curator of the Museum's department of decorative arts and sculpture. Other contributors were associate curator Charissa Bremer-David and assistant Jeffrey Weaver.
French Furniture and Gilt Bronzes: Baroque and Regence by Gillian Wilson, hardcover, 464 pages, nearly 600 color and black and white illustrations, is $125. Getty Publications are distributed by Oxford University Press.
©2000-08 Discovery Publications, Inc.