Matthew Boulton was an eighteenth-century designer, inventor, and industrialist, a consummate businessman, and co-founder of the influential Lunar Society. Now, on the bicentenary of his death, this book surveys his life and extraordinarily varied ac...

The friendship between William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones began when they met as undergraduates in 1853 and lasted until Morris' death in 1896, despite their differences in temperament and in attitudes to political engagement. This friendship was...

Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936) ranked among the most innovative furniture makers at the turn of the twentieth century. Praised by the international press and exhibited throughout the United States and Europe, his beautiful works grew out of an interestin...

Reaching an apogee of 6,000 members in the years just before the American Civil War, the Shaker movement was the most extensive, enduring, and successful utopian society ever established in America. Leaving Manchester in 1776 to avoid persecution, th...

How architects and engineers relate to one another has long been debated but never before addressed over a broad span of history. There are many controversial issues: about professional demarcation, about credit for design, about the value we attach...

Betsy Beinecke Shirley, one of the great collectors of American children's literature, gathered a peerless collection of books, original illustrations, manuscripts, and ephemera. This gorgeously illustrated book presents over 200 selected original ar...

Arriving in the United States in 1914, Viennese-born Paul T. Frankl (1886-1958) brought with him an outsider's fresh perspective and an enthusiasm for forging a uniquely American design aesthetic. In the years between the two world wars he, more than...

Samuel Colt (1814-1862) first patented his 'Colt' revolver in 1835 and quickly redefined the architecture of handguns. This stunning book traces the evolution of Colt's most famous invention and examines his ambition for artistic excellence as well a...

From the 1920s through the 1950s, two individuals, Joseph Urban and Norman Bel Geddes, did more, by far, to create the image of 'America' and make it synonymous with modernity than any of their contemporaries. Urban and Bel Geddes were leading Broadw...

From teaspoons to cocktail shakers and unique objects made for New York World's Fairs, this stunning book examines the influence of modernism upon industrially produced silverware made in the United States from 1925 to 2000. Featuring the Dallas Muse...