In Praise of America: American Decorative Arts, 1650-1830; Fifty Years of Discovery Since the 1929 Girl Scouts Loan Exhibition

... This is an oversize book, illustrated with 360 photographs, 52 in full color. "The event that brought American antiques into the forefront of world collecting was the now legendary 1929 exhibition sponsored by the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. Now this lavishly illustrated book, published on the fiftieth anniversary of the exhibition, presents 180 years of magnificent American decorative arts and antiques....." This is the beginning of the opening remarks on the dustcover jacket. The writer continues to detail, chapter by chapter, the contributions of dealers and curators like Graham Hood of Colonial Williamsburg and Charles Hummel of Winterhur. Included in the text are the special commissions, the patronage and the craftsmanship that led to the creation of items that would eventually become the treasured collectable pieces of art we call antiques. The fashion centers of the East each had it's own style with often dramatic differences from New York to Philadelphia and into rural Lancaster, Pennsylvania or the villages of New Hampshire. Each page, whether photograph or text is printed on photo quality paper. The type style was taken from a noted German typographer and modified for this book. Every detail of the collection, organization and print process was meticulously supervised to provide and unusually fine book. "For collectors, dealers, libraries, and amateurs in the field - a beautiful and important book, a landmark in the literature of American antiques."