Customer Reviews

Pictorial Archive of Lace Designs: 325 Historic Examples (Dover Pictorial Archive)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I know and appreciate very much Ms. Grafton's books. Being a lacemaker, a crocheter and an embroiderer, I really love the variety of laces presented in this book. Antique prints, drawings and photographs bring us many examples of historical laces. Needlelace plus Bruges, Venetian, Milanese, Teneriffe, Battenberg laces and Square-net embroidery are all presented in this book. Although very appealing to the eye, it could disappoint the novice lacemaker, because there are no instructions, prickings or diagrams; only a wealth of exquisitely detailed laces from many ages and countries. Anyway, it's a good source for advanced lacemakers (embroiderers, crocheters...): they can draw inspiration from those patterns to develop their own designs and prickings.

While this book shows incredible detail in the images of lacework, it does not provide a single word on the sources or dates of the lace pieces. This book will provide inspiration for lacemakers or designers (not patterns!) Historical costumers or reproduction lacemakers who require documentation for their work will wish to pass by this resource.

I ordered this book in the hopes that I would find something I could use for work. I am a graphic designer. From my point of view, this book is perfect. Every page is filled with black and white, (probably bitmapped) images of lace. Some are art deco in style. Some look more like they are from the arts and crafts style. Some are more geometric. All are intricate. There are about 2 pages of publisher's note focusing on the history of lace. There are 2 sets of alphabets and 1 set of numbers. It was an excellent find for me. Hope it will be for you as well.

I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately the images in it were a bit low res or a bit blurred. I was hoping to scan some of the images so I can use it as decoration in my illustrations. Too bad the quality is not great. 3 out of 5 stars for me.