15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Index, Index, Index!!!, December 12, 2006
This review is from: Early American Pattern Glass: Collector's Identification & Price Guide (Paperback)
I'm sorry to say this book makes me want to stick a fork in my eye every time I use it.
That's because mostly I need to identify an unfamiliar piece of glass, so I don't have a pattern name yet, and for some reason the authors chose to assume that anyone using this book would already know the pattern name of what they were looking up! Even the table of contents lacks any organization other than alphabetical pattern names.
But most of all, identification is made hair-pullingly difficult by the lack of even a rudimentary INDEX.
The authors have provided no way to look up patterns by characteristics such as 'star and circle,' or 'ribbed with lattice,' etc. The authors of books on marks have managed to come up with organization systems like this - so why is it so lacking in pattern identification books? This is not the only book without an index, even Mauzy's excellent book on Depression glass forces you to look at every pattern on every page when you're researching an unfamiliar piece.
But, what makes this book's lack of index particularly egregious is its enormous size and complexity. Having to look at mostly black and white line drawings of patterns on EVERY SINGLE page of this book's 498 (!) pages of patterns is so discouraging I have yet to actually id a piece. I keep just giving up, which makes this book a waste of money.
In fact, if you have a pattern name, you've already GOT identification, haven't you? All you really need to know is the price and what else is available in the pattern line, which YOU HAVE ALREADY IDENTIFIED YOURSELF!! The use of the word "Identification" in this book's title is an outrageous lie.
The only way to make this book valuable to the majority of collectors, who have not managed to memorize thousands of EAPG patterns, is to buy another better organized book of patterns and use this one for the exhaustive listing of all pieces produced or reproduced under each pattern name.
Obviously, the authors put a lot of hard work into this huge volume (which is the only reason this torture device still got two stars) but expecting anyone to access all that info without an index is ridiculous. This is a reference book after all, and reference books are meant to be WELL organized.
If the authors had done more than just part of the job, and included at least an index and/or at least one other organization method than alphabetical pattern names, this could have been THE definitive guide to EAPG. What a disappointment.
This was my first book on EAPG so I don't have any alternative suggestions, but perhaps someone else out there does?
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
The Lack of an Index - moan and groan!!!, December 26, 2006
This review is from: Early American Pattern Glass: Collector's Identification & Price Guide (Paperback)
Ditto to the above review of this book! "Index, Index, Index!!!" I am a relative newbie to antique glass and started a few months ago trying to identify family pieces. Because of the volume, extensive research, pictures, etc... of this source, I bought it a couple of months ago. What a waste of time and money. This book ***only*** has an alphabetical listing of patterns in the Table of Contents - no index. As I am trying to ***indentify*** a glass pattern - do not know the pattern name, the Table of Contents is useless. I have to laborously search page by page (500+) in hopes of stumbling on a black and white pic or sketch of the pattern. Granted several other glass books only have alpha listings of patterns but they are smaller in volume making it a bit easier to thumb through them. Now Warman's Glass by Schroy does have an index which lists not only pattern names but catagories with sub-levels. Why couldn't this book have taken a little more effort and added an invaluable index?
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book. Previous Reviews Miss the Point, January 22, 2010
This review is from: Early American Pattern Glass: Collector's Identification & Price Guide (Paperback)
I almost didn't purchase this book because of a couple of bad reviews. I took a chance and got it anyway, and am very glad I did. The book has provided me with hours of enjoyment. Many patterns displayed via photos and detailed sketches on
many different types of pieces (many books show an example of a particular pattern on just ONE PIECE; we all know that we often need more than one example of a pattern for more accurate ID). I don't use this book as an EAPG field guide, and I think that is why previous reviewers were not very happy with it. I don't think the book was meant to be one,; to me it is more of an EXTENSIVE cross reference.
I use a more streamlined field guide like the highly recommended "Field Guide to Pattern Glass" by McCain when scoping out pieces for quick possible ID. It serves its purpose as does this big, informative, beautiful "atlas of old glass" by Reilly\Jenks. Comparing them to each other is like comparing apples to oranges; would you compare an instructions manual to an encyclopedia? In "Early American Pattern Glass," ALL patterns are listed alphabetically instead of grouping "like patterns" together for easier field ID...this is what probably frustrates people the worst about this book. You should SUSPECT a pattern's name BEFORE HAND from your trusty field guide, then VERIFY it with "Early American Pattern Glass." This book is also very enjoyable just to look through, with a nice color center section.
The value guide is also nice, which is lacking in my field book. Enjoy this wonderful book for what it really is. Recommended.
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