America's Quilts And Coverlets [Hardcover]

Carleton L Safford (Author), Robert Bishop (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 313 pages
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing (December 9, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517143917
• ISBN-13: 978-0517143919
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 8.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,704,535 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars America's Quilts and Coverlets, September 28, 2003

By 

Laurel Jacobs "MysticCaribou" (Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: America's Quilts And Coverlets (Hardcover)

One of the most beautiful books ever published in the field of American decorative arts, America's Quilts and Coverlets is a comprehensive survey of a subject that is enjoying enormous popularity today, which is in great part due to the splendid exhibition of American quilts held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1971.

The main emphasis of this book is on patchwork and applique quilts, which are certainly some of the most expressive, colorful and even dynamic examples of artistry produced in our early American homes. However, much space is also given to other examples of the great variety and beautiful design of the bed coverings created by past generations of American women, including bed-rugs, linsey-woolsey coverlets, whole-cloth spreads, crewel work spreads, "white work" or trapunto, Overshot coverlets, summer and winter coverlets, Jacquard coverlets, candlewick spreads, stencil spreads, crazy quilts and some modern examples of patchwork and applique.

Heavily illustrated with 122 color plates and 472 black-and-white photographs of outstanding pieces in all categories from public and private collections throughout the country, many of which are published here for the first time. Accompanying the illustrations is a laymans nontechnical account of styles, materials and needlework. This is the first major work published in many years on the subject, and the beauty in the book speaks eloquently for itself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars History only fair, mostly vague data, coverlet info poor, September 27, 2010

By 

Jade - See all my reviews

This review is from: America's Quilts And Coverlets (Hardcover)

This book takes snippets from other books with no footnotes. Much of what is stated about coverlets is historically wrong. Most descriptions of coverlets and weaving history are either vague or just wrong. It is not as bad as the Knopf guide to quilts and coverlets, though.