Customer Reviews

The Lamps of Louis Comfort Tiffany

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I'd postponed writing a review of this book because I imagined that it was only fair to read the entire text before I wrote about it. I've never really gotten to concentrate on the words, though, because the photos are so, *SO* astonishingly beautiful.

This isn't simply a collection of lamp pictures, taken as though they're head-and-shoulders photos in a police lineup. Many of the lamps have multiple views, from very small (to show off how drapery glass was used, for instance), to a general detail shot, to photographs of the bases the company used to accompany the shade. The photography quality is excellent; you really see everything you need. A professional glass artist (or drooling amateur like myself) can see the details and understand why these lamps set the bar for stained glass. Even if you know NOTHING about the subject, you'll be blown away by the overwhelming prettiness of the material.

I'm not sure if this book represents every Tiffany lamp ever made, but it must come close. Additional images show related material, such as photos of Tiffany's Long Island home (wow), cartoons for lamps we've never seen, and Tiffany Studios' 1904 advertisements for its lamps. Most of the book, however, is a study of the lamps themselves, organized by topic (such as fauna or wetlands), and analyzed in some detail.

When I drag my eyes away, I can recognize that the prose is as complete as the photographs. In addition to the historical context in which the lamps were created, there's plenty of history and analysis about their manufacture. ("Another watercolor rendering in the collection in the Metropolitan Museum is for a Snowball shade [figure 93]. Here, because of the model's domical form, the designer compensated for the curvature of the surface by opening the top sections of the shade into a series of regular projections, just as a cartographer has to allow for the curvature of the globe.") Some of it is a bit dry and academic, at least for those of us who are here primarily to say, "ooh, how pretty!" but if you cared about the details, you would definitely appreciate its depth. In other words: there's plenty to look at, and there's plenty to read, depending on what you're looking for.

You can find a few other collections of Tiffany's works, but I can't imagine you'll find a better one.

I saw this book in a museum bookstore and immediately came home and purchased it on Amazon. I'm a stained glass student and looking at this book really inspired me. The photographs are stunning and the book is packed full of great information about Louis Comfort Tiffany and his studio. Included are his drawings for a few windows, information about the methods used to make them, and there's even info on the process used to create the glass. Very informative and a joy to look at.

I've never seen a finer book of Tiffany Lamp photographs. The photographer for this book developed a new technique for photographing stained glass and this is a landmark book. There are photo's in this book of some of the rarest of all the Tiffany lamps - many I've never seen before. Buy this book before it goes out of print!

Over the years, there have been many books written on Tiffany's leaded glass lamps.

Most were very expensive, they had very biased opinions of the author, and some were down right full of technical errors!

I use these books as references to make my reproduction pieces. Without these resources, my job is a lot more difficult.

It is so refreshing to find a new book that not only has excellent quality photos, but also presents a fresh review of a very important topic!

Overall, I found very few technical miscues and I think this book is the best value on the planet for this niche. It contains several previously unpublished lamp patterns. The photos of actual equipment used at Tiffany Studios is very impressive. The authors did their homework!

If you want a great starter book for your library on Tiffany or just need a beautiful book for your coffee table, this book is a winner!

It is about time that another great book joins the volumes published in the 70's and 80's. There is some new information here as well as photos of lamps that have not been seen for years. This book is well worth the money for any fan of these incredible lamps.

I really enjoyed this book. The color full page pictures are great.