LibGuides: In Sparkling Company: Glass and the Costs of Social Life in Britain During the 1700s: 18th-Century Glass

Eating and Drinking

18th Century Glasses for the Dessert: The Tim Udall Collection by Delomosne & Son Ltd.
Call Number: Stacks NK5108.8 .D36
Publication Date: 2011
Contents: E.T. Udall / [Martin Mortimer] -- Syllabubs and jellies / by Ivan Day -- [Catalog].
Consuming Passions by Maureen Carroll, Hugh Willmott, and Dawn Hadley (Eds.)
Call Number: Stacks GT2853.E8 C648 2005z
ISBN: 9780752434452
Publication Date: 2005
This multidisciplinary book explores the social practice of dining over 2000 years, examining the archaeological, documentary, material culture and art historical evidence for the consumption of food and drink in various historical, social and cultural contexts. See especially the chapter, "Eating al fresco: The use of garden buildings for dining in the eighteenth-century English pleasure ground," by Kate Felus.
Eighteenth Century English Drinking Glasses: An Illustrated Guide by L. M. Bickerton
Call Number: Stacks NK5143 .B58 2000
ISBN: 9781851493517
Publication Date: 2000
There is a continuing interest 18th-century drinking glasses which is fuelled by the enormous variety of bowls and stems. The revised edition of this guide features digitally enhanced photographs, a wealth of illustrations and an extensive bibliography by Robert Elleray.
Eighteenth Century English Glass by Ian J. D. Murray
Call Number: Stacks NK5143 .M97
ISBN: 9781920727048
Publication Date: 2003
The beginnings of English glassmaking -- The changing stem -- Air twist and opaque twist stems -- Commemorative glass -- Jacobite glass -- Enamelling: The Beilby influence -- White glass: Painting and enamelling -- Glass manufacturing: The Ravenscroft legacy -- Identifying and dating drinking glasses.
Elegant Eating: Four Hundred Years of Dining in Style by Philippa Glanville
Call Number: Stacks TX879 .E39
ISBN: 9781851773480
Publication Date: 2002
Contents: Setting the scene -- Dressing the table -- The dessert -- After dinner -- Celebrations and ceremonies.
The Festive Tradition by Louise C. Belden
Call Number: Stacks TX879 .B42
ISBN: 9780393016185
Publication Date: 1983
Recipes: p. 255-294.
The Golden Age of English Glass by Dwight P. Lanmon
Call Number: Stacks NK5143 .L29
ISBN: 9781851496563
Publication Date: 2011
The Golden Age of English Glass features 150 objects from the collection of John H. Bryan, ranging in date from c.1650-1809. These enable a full and detailed discussion of the history of English glassmaking during its critical period of innovation (c.1650-1675) and its world triumph (c.1700-1775), including discussions of crystal table glass, "black" glass bottles, window glass, mirrors and lighting (glass candlesticks and chandeliers). In spite of the fact that these pieces are among the most important examples of English glass known (the collection includes, for instance, twenty-five drinking glasses made between about 1690 and 1720, when English table glass is widely regarded as being among the most refined and perfect expression of the glassmakers' art anywhere in the world), few have ever been published.... Essays accompanying catalogue discussions of individual glasses place them in their wider historical and technical settings. The book is illustrated with some 215 colour photographs of the objects in the collection (including groups and details), some 75 comparative objects from other collections and 55 period prints, paintings, drawings and other documents that convey the historic context of their use and also document processes of manufacture and decoration.
The Jacobites and Their Drinking Glasses by Geoffrey B. Seddon
Call Number: Stacks NK5143 .S43 2015
ISBN: 9781851497959
Publication Date: 2015
The most detailed study of Jacobite glass ever undertaken, and the glasses are described against the compelling history of the Jacobite movement in the 18th century. This book, first published in 1995, remains the most detailed study of Jacobite glass ever undertaken, and the glasses are described against the compelling history of the Jacobite movement in the 18th century. Hundreds of detailed photographs of the engravings help to authenticate the genuine glasses in a field well known to be infested with fakes.
Old English Glasses: An Account of Glass Drinking Vessels in England, from Early Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century by Albert Hartshorne
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 1897
Digitized copy available online through the Rakow Research Library catalog. The Library also owns multiple physical copies (Call No. Stacks NK5143 .H33).
Rare English Glasses of the XVII & XVIII Centuries by Joseph Bles
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 1924
Contents: The Royal Oak goblet -- Glass of lead -- Diamond point engraving -- Jacobite glasses -- King WIlliam and anti-Jacobite glasses -- Commemorative glass / by Sir J.S. Risley -- Enamelled glass -- Sweetmeat glasses and others -- Candlesticks and tapersticks -- Rare drinking glasses -- Cut glass. Note: The Rakow Research Library also owns a physical copy (Call No. Stacks NK5143 .B64 1924).
Sweetmeat and Jelly Glasses by Therle Hughes
Call Number: Stacks NK5143 H895s
ISBN: 9780718825386
Publication Date: 1982
Wine Glasses and Goblets, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by Albert Hartshorne
Call Number: Special and Rare Books NK5440.D7 .H33 * v.1-2
Publication Date: 1889
Vol. 1. Fine thin glasses -- Dutch glasses -- Teniers glasses -- Goblets cut & engraved -- Goblets engraved -- Very rare & curious glasses -- Straight-sided glasses: single stem -- Straight-sided glasses: compound stems -- Waisted glasses -- William III & Jacobite glasses -- Fluted glasses -- Tasting glasses -- Single ogee glasses -- Double ogee glasses -- Bell glasses: necked & bulbed -- Bell headed glasses -- Bell glasses plain stems -- Shouldered glasses -- Bellied glasses -- Sweetmeat glasses -- Tall champagne glasses -- Short champagne glasses -- Cider glasses -- Ale glasses. Vol. 2. Straw drawn air twists in some coloured & engraved roses &c. -- Cut and engraved glasses, polished engraving, couching, &c. -- Tavern and household glasses, no bulbs or bubbles in stems -- Tavern and household glasses, no necks, bubbles in stems, the first few waisted, i.e. earliest -- Tavern and household glasses, compound stems -- Hogarth, liqueur, Masonic and other short small glasses -- Thistle glasses -- Grog and Rummers -- Blunderbusses, large glasses, &c. -- Hats, boots, candlesticks, yards, half yds. &c. -- Mugs, tankards, mead cups &c. -- Venetian glasses of all kinds made for English market from English drawings 1667-1672 from orig. drawings in Sloane mss.

Decoration and Ornamentation

Dangerous Liaisons by Harold Koda (Ed.)
Call Number: Stacks GT860 .K63 2006z
ISBN: 9780300107142
Publication Date: 2006
During the reigns of Louis XV (1723-74) and Louis XVI (1774-92), fashion and furniture were not simply meant to be beautiful but were also intended to arouse, attract, and seduce. Published in response to the critically acclaimed and hugely popular exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum in the fall of 2004, Dangerous Liaisons focuses on fashion and its interplay with the paintings, furniture, and decorative arts of eighteenth-century France. Featuring beautiful color photographs of the exhibition's installation, details of the garments, and supplementary historical material, the book demonstrates how the extravagant clothing of the period reiterated the splendor of Rococo and Neoclassical interiors.
Eighteenth Century Paste Jewellery. by M. D. S. Lewis
Call Number: Periodicals NK1125 .A622
Antique Dealer and Collectors' Guide 19, no. 6 (Jan. 1965): 47-49.
Georgian Jewellery, 1714-1830 by Ginny Redington, and Olivia Collings
Call Number: Stacks NK7343 .D26
ISBN: 9781851495399
Publication Date: 2007
Georgian Jewellery is a celebration of the quality and style of the eighteenth century and of the endless ingenuity in design and workmanship that produced such a wealth of fabulous and wearable pieces of jewellery. Heavy academic tomes have already been written about the period, so this book illuminates the subject in a more colourful and accessible way. Much disparate information about the jewellery has been gathered together and the period is brought alive by portraits and character sketches of famous Georgians in their finery fashion tips, gossip, and some rather outrageous cartoons of the time, as well as interesting newly discovered facts. Some might think that Georgian jewellery is the stuff of museums or safe-deposit boxes, but since many of the pieces pictured here have been on the market in the last few years, it is hoped this book will encourage people to realise this lovely jewellery is as beautiful an adornment today as it was over two hundred years ago. Information is given on how to recognise Georgian jewellery, buy it and repair it and there are tips on how to distinguish the real thing from the plethora of reproduction jewellery on the market today.
he Glass Drawing Room from Northumberland House by David Owsley, and William Rieder
Call Number: Stacks NK1535.A3 O97
ISBN: 9780901486677
Publication Date: 1974
Jewelry in America by Martha G. Fales, and Martha Gandy Fales
Call Number: Stacks NK7312 .F18
ISBN: 1851492232
Publication Date: 1995
This book identifies jewellery worn in America from 1600 to 1900, whether made in that country or elsewhere, and charts the changes in forms, style, materials and techniques.
Making Marvels: Science and Splendor at the Courts of Europe by Wolfram Koeppe
Call Number: Stacks NK925 .M23
ISBN: 9781588396778
Publication Date: 2019
Innovation, technology, and spectacle combine in wondrous works of decorative art and furniture that embody the splendor and luxury of the royal courts of Europe. At once beautiful works of art and technological wonders, the objects featured in Making Marvels demonstrate how European royalty from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment signaled their status through their collections of ingeniously crafted inventions. Featuring 150 exemplary objects ranging from mechanical toys to scientific instruments, timepieces to automata, this groundbreaking study brings to life a glorious period when luxury, a quest for knowledge, scientific invention, and political power combined to produce remarkable works of art.
Mallett Millennium: Fine Antique Furniture and Works of Art by Lanto Synge
Call Number: Stacks NK2528 .S99
ISBN: 9781851493296
Publication Date: 2000
Mallett of Bond Street is famous in the world of antiques and fine art, renowned as the leading dealer in fine English furniture. Drawing on its previously unpublished archives, Lanto Synge takes the reader from the 17th through the 19th centuries, illustrating furniture of all kinds, mirrors, glass, sculpture and decorative items and a selection of outstanding paintings. Anecdotes about interesting personalities and customers enliven the text, and provide an entertaining history of the business itself. These, combined with the remarkable illustrations, offer a unique perspective on the history of furniture and the decorative arts.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall....

The Mirror: A History by Sabine Melchoir-Bonnet
Call Number: Stacks NK8440 .M51e
ISBN: 0415924472
Publication Date: 2000
This engaging and witty cultural history traces the evolution of the mirror from antiquity to the present day, illustrating its journey from wondrous object to ordinary trinket. With its earliest invention, the mirror allowed us to gaze upon ourselves, bestowing a power both fascinating and terrifying.
Mirror Mirror: A History of the Human Love Affaire with Reflection by Mark Pendergrast
Call Number: Stacks NK8440 .P39
ISBN: 0465054706
Publication Date: 2003
Of all human inventions, the mirror is perhaps the one most closely connected to our own consciousness. As our first technology for contemplation of the self, the mirror is arguably as important an invention as the wheel. Mirror Mirror is the fascinating story of the mirror's invention, refinement, and use in an astonishing range of human activities--from the fantastic mirrored rooms that wealthy Romans created for their orgies to the mirror's key role in the use and understanding of light. Pendergrast spins tales of the 2,500-year mystery of whether Archimedes and his "burning mirror" really set faraway Roman ships on fire; the medieval Venetian glassmakers, who perfected the technique of making large, flat mirrors from clear glass and for whom any attempt to leave their cloistered island was punishable by death; Isaac Newton, whose experiments with sunlight on mirrors once left him blinded for three days; the artist David Hockney, who holds controversial ideas about Renaissance artists and their use of optical devices; and George Ellery Hale, the manic-depressive astronomer and telescope enthusiast who inspired (and gave his name to) the twentieth century's largest ground-based telescope.
Mirrors by Serge Roche, Germain Courage, and Pierre Devino
Call Number: Stacks NK8440 .R67e 1985
ISBN: 0847806057
Publication Date: 1985
Queen Anne and Georgian Looking Glasses by Lewis Hinckley
Call Number: Stacks NK8440 .H65
ISBN: 0814734472
Publication Date: 1988
Little is known in regard to authentic London furniture and looking glasses because of scarcities that are striking in comparison with the productions of other large cities in Europe and the British Isles. Of continental cities only Paris was larger during the Georgian era, while Dublin ranked next in size. It has long been the view of F.Lewis Hinckley that a thorough knowledge of Dublin furniture designs is a must in order to understand the source of a great many of the highly sophisticated metropolitan pieces currently found in British and American museums that carry London attributions. Clearly the volume outstrips what known London cabinetmakers could have turned out, while the English hinterland has yet to yield the names of artisans who could have worked at such high levels of design and execution. For collectors of Americana, a knowledge of Dublin designs is highly desirable both for recognizing their influence on the development of American furniture, and for evaluating any Dublin pieces that reach the market mislabeled as American productions.

Lighting

The Chandelier through the Centuries: A History of Great European Styles by Kerri McCaffety
Call Number: Stacks NK6196 .M47
ISBN: 9780970933652
Publication Date: 2006
Lighting in America by Lawrence S. Cooke (Editor)
Call Number: Stacks NK6196 .A63
ISBN: 0876632533
Publication Date: 1976
The English Glass Chandelier by Martin Mortimer
Call Number: Stacks NK6196 .M88
ISBN: 185149328X
Publication Date: 2000
Comprehensive coverage of antique glass chandeliers, ranging from the first use of glass for lighting in the late 17th century to the end of the 19th century.
Furniture in the Air: The Crystal Chandelier in Europe by Peter Rath
Call Number: Stacks NK6196 .R23e
ISBN: 9783990288917
Publication Date: 2020

Scientific Instruments

Early Scientific Instruments: Europe, 1400-1800 by Anthony Turner
Call Number: Stacks Q185 .T93
ISBN: 0856673196
Publication Date: 1987
European Collections of Scientific Instruments, 1550-1750 by Giorgio Strano, Alison D. Morrison-Low, Stephen Johnston, and Mara Miniati (Volume Eds.)
Call Number: Stacks Q185 .E97 2009z
ISBN: 9789004172708
Publication Date: 2009
"Collections of scientific instruments originated as part of Renaissance collections of 'naturalia' and 'artificialia'. Surveying and astronomical instruments were common in such collections, their role being to impress visitors by displaying the power that a ruler acquired through the control of nature. This book offers selected studies of notable European collections of scientific instruments from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. These studies also present the work of important instrument makers of the time, and their relations with patrons and rulers. A final section focuses on the role of modern museums and collectors in saving this scientific heritage from dispersal. The result is a contemporary perspective on the formation of the most important museums of the history of science."--Back cover. Glass Connection: Includes glass, telescopes, microscopes, mirrors, spectacles, and a rock crystal crystal ball.
Scientific Instruments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries and Their Makers by Maurice Daumas
Call Number: Stacks Q185 .D23 1972
Publication Date: 1972
The Universe Unveiled: Instruments and Images Through History by Bruce Stephenson, Marvin Bolt, and Anna Felicity Friedman
Call Number: Stacks QB86 .S74 2000z
ISBN: 9780521791434
Publication Date: 2000
The search for understanding creates more than answers; it also produces instruments, books, maps, and other tools made and used by those seeking knowledge. The Universe Unveiled uniquely focuses on these artifacts and devices resulting from the attempts to decipher the Universe from the late fifteenth to the early twentieth century. Beautiful, full-color photographs capture these extremely rare and sometimes unusual curios. Beginning with the discovery of ways to keep time, The Universe Unveiled depicts the shift from an Earth-centered understanding of the Universe to a Sun-centered view, the mapping of the stars, and the ever-expanding knowledge of the heavens using telescopes. It also examines the developing technologies of navigation and of the measuring and mapping of the Earth.

Glassmaking and Glassworking

Art's master-piece: or, A companion for the ingenious of either sex: In two parts... by C. K.
Call Number: Online
Publication Date: 1701
A digitized version of the second edition is available via HathiTrust, the link to which is provided here. The Rakow Research Library owns a copy of the fifth edition (1721) (Call No. Special and Rare Books Uncataloged #527).
Bosc d'Antic on Glassmaking by Michael Cable
Call Number: Stacks TP856 .B74e
ISBN: 9780900682841
Publication Date: 2018
Paul Bosc d'Antic was a Protestant physician who became fascinated by glass making and gained influential friends who gave him the task of improving the manufacture of plate glass at Saint Gobain in 1755. He spent two years there before being dismissed but continued to make his career in glass making. At one stage he came to England hoping for a post at Ravenhead but was disappointed. After returning to France he eventually became physician to the King. He wrote extensively and very readably on glass making and several other subjects, in papers published between 1758 and the appearance of his Collected Works in 1780. His most important essay is a long one on Means of improving glass making in France which in 1760 won him a prize offered by the Royal Academy of Sciences but also offended his erstwhile employers at Saint-Gobain. It was supplemented by extensive notes written for the 1780 publication. This volume contains translations of the Preliminary Discourse that he wrote for the Collected Works, the prize essay with the notes inserted where appropriate, nine others concerned with various aspects of glass making, and two more on the assaying of ores and on the manufacture of faience.
A History of Glassmaking in London: from the Earliest Times to the Present Day by D. C. Watts
Call Number: Stacks TP854.E5 .W34 2014
ISBN: 9780956211620
Publication Date: 2014
Contents: What it's all about -- The first connections with glass -- Medieval to Renaissance London -- Glass painting and the Southwark school -- The first glassmakers -- From Verzelini to patents of privilege -- Edward la Zouche and glassmaking with coal -- Sir Robert Mansell's glassmaking monopoly 1615-1642 -- The Commonwealth, restoration and beyond -- The glassmaking process -- Greenwich and Charterhouse Yard glasshouses -- Woolwich glasshouse and the Henzeys in Ireland -- The Winchester House glasshouses -- The Vauxhall glasshouses of Zouche, Bowles and Baker -- Bear Garden glasshouses: crown window glass -- Pike Green, Jackson's Falcon, Cockpit and Upper Ground glasshouses -- Gravel Lane and Pellatts' Falcon glasshouse -- Stony Street glasshouses -- Kings Arms Stairs, Cottage and Cetti glasshouse -- Albert, Southwark and Nazeing glasshouses -- Savoy glasshouses and the invention of lead crystal -- Salisbury Court, Whitefriars, Rust and Blackfriars glasshouses -- Goodman's Yard, Saltpetre Bank, Green Yard and Red Maid Lane glasshouses -- Decorative Sand Blast Company: gilded, embossed and sandblast decoration -- Glass House Fields, T&W Ide, Rankin Glass and James Hetley -- Thames Plate Glasshouse -- Gray-Stan, Century, Fountain and Stangate glasshouses -- Clayton Bros., Clayton J. and Clayton Meyers glasshouses -- Later glasshouses making bottles and jars -- From beads to studio glass.
Glass of the Alchemists by Dedo Von Kerssenbrock-Krosigk
Call Number: Stacks TP851 .K41
ISBN: 9780872901698
Publication Date: 2008
Alchemists are often perceived as somewhat strange and mystical individuals who were obsessed with transmuting the base metals into gold. As we know today, they pursued this goal in vain, and most of their theories have been refuted by modern chemistry. However, among the many charlatans and windbags (whom the 17th-century alchemist George Starkey likened to sheared hogs whose squeaking far exceeds the wooll), there were a few serious scientists: practical people who strove to improve the various technological processes of their day. These men engaged in what we would call today the science of materials. They had a lasting impact on such technologies as metallurgy and the preparation of pigments and medicinals. And some of them had the knowledge and experience that were required to advance the melting of glass.

In Sparkling Company Hot Glass Livestreams

Watch as the Hot Glass Demo Team and Assistant Curator Linnea Seidling explore many ways in which beads can be made, and how they were used in trade and commerce in the 1800s. Alongside Seidling’s curatorial perspective, the glassmakers will be working glass at the furnace, on the flameworking torch, and coldworking to create a variety of bead designs.

Watch as Hot Glass Demo Team gaffer Helen Tegeler and Curatorial Assistant Linnea Seidling explore the topic of adornments worn and enjoyed by fashionable members of society in 18th-century Britain.

Watch as Hot Glass Programs Supervisor Jeff Mack and Curatorial Assistant Linnea Seidling explore twisted cane stems and ribbon themes. Alongside Seidling’s curatorial perspective to the presentation, Mack shares his glassmaking expertise in creating complex, twisted cane variations for stemware of the 1700s—with a contemporary flair.

Watch as Senior Manager of Hot Glass Programs Eric Meek makes glass that celebrates cool treats such as ice cream and syllabub, a dessert popular with 18th-century Britain's high society. Curatorial Assistant Linnea Seidling will provide historical insight into these glass objects during the demo, bringing life to how these desserts were enjoyed at the time.

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