Thursday 3 April 2014

Dr Christopher Dresser-STUDIES IN DESIGN. Published by Cassell, Petter and Galpin.


I was very pleased this week to acquire this Folio entitled STUDIES IN DESIGN by Christopher Dresser which is printed to the highest standards.
Though the binding is in a distressed state the plates inside are mostly as they were when the left Cassell, Petter and Galpin print works.
Each plate is frameable. Though I will never break up a book.   
It has been reprinted but as an original of 1876 It appears to be quite rare.
Its all been said about how far ahead Dresser's designs were.
Though a lot of them are now more esoteric than commercial there is no doubting his place in the history of design, not just in this country but in the world.

If my memory serves me correctly and I am typing this as I think, he collected glass for Louis Comfort Tiffany on his travels round the globe. Where he collected designs, quite a lot of them in the Japanese taste  Not all designs are actually by him, but by his studio. This was a common practice in Victorian times, as an example in today's terms, we can say, Lord Foster cant do all the drawings for all his architectural projects.
Here in splendid colour we can see the vibrancy and attention to detail that was applied in a Victorian age of heavy brown furniture.  If I also remember rightly I was once told by a learned authority that his father was a tax inspector in Liverpool.

I thought you may like to share the beauty of some of the plates. 
And I thought I would like to share it.
Click on the link below to read the e-book on line.


https://archive.org/details/Studiesdesign00Dres


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