Our most popular book! This compact and informative guide provides all the basic information one needs to enter the world of paperweights. It includes histories of the great French glasshouses during the classic period, as well as the revival period of the 1950's, and the current paperweight renaissance. The latest biographies of prominent paperweight artists are provided, with sections about collecting and making paperweights. The insightful 120-page text is generously illustrated with over 200 full-color photographs. All About Paperweights will increase your knowledge and appreciation of this specialized art form. Buy it for your own reference and enjoyment, or as an introductory gift for a friend. Full color.
This collectors guide to identifying, selecting and enjoying new and antique paperweights is photographed in full color. With many varied examples, each major category of these desirable collectibles is represented. Investigate that old desk in the attic!
The purpose of this book is to introduce paperweight collecting to those people who may be interested in these fascinating and mysterious small glass objects, but are not quite ready to start a collection without some basic knowledge. Back in 1969, when my husband and I first became interested in paperweights, information was at a premium. The limited number of books about paperweights were often hard to come by. Occasionally, articles were published in magazines, and once in a while, an article appeared in a newspaper. You were lucky if you heard about the article and luckier still to find a copy! Some wonderful books were published as far back as 1940 when paperweight collector Evangeline Bergstrom’s book Old Glass Paperweights first appeared.* In fact, many old books, paperweight journals, newspaper and magazine articles have become valuable in their own right, now sought after as collectors’ items. The positive side about this paucity of literature was that you read everything you could get your hands on, good, poor or terrific. Today, even the very best of these publications, many still considered top notch, contain at least some information that could be updated and corrected as a result of recent findings. Still, many of these books and articles remain as valuable resources. Since the “Paperweight Renaissance” in the mid twentieth century, the number of available books about paperweights has increased explosively. To consider acquiring and/or reading all of them creates a heavy burden on reader, purse and bookshelf. Some are wonderful, containing well documented information; some are even extraordinary, the result of careful research; and a few are mediocre and will probably end up on the back shelf, the pages barely worn. Before a potential paperweight aficionado becomes confused or overwhelmed by the vast number of books, it seemed there was an opportunity to provide a general view of the topic that could be easily read and referred to at just the right time. It was to meet this perceived need that “Glass Paperweights 101” was written. As the title suggests, this book about glass paperweights is intended as an introduction to and overview of the subject. Should this book inspire readers to delve into these more scholarly works, I will personally consider this introductory volume to have been a great success. After digesting the contents of this purposely limited volume, I hope readers who are new to this area of collecting or perhaps just thinking about it, will be inspired to become impassioned paperweight collectors who will develop a discriminating eye. Great adventures are in store for the new paperweight collector. *This was one of the earliest books published a about paperweights. Although the Bergstrom book contains many inaccuracies, considering the scarcity of available information about paperweights at the time, it is amazing that so much that was written is correct.
This emotionally haunting and beautifully written young adult debut delves into the devastating impact of trauma and loss, in the vein of Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls. Seventeen-year-old Stevie is trapped. In her life. In her body. And now in an eating-disorder treatment center on the dusty outskirts of the New Mexico desert. Life in the center is regimented and intrusive, a nightmare come true. Nurses and therapists watch Stevie at meal time, accompany her to the bathroom, and challenge her to eat the foods she’s worked so hard to avoid. Her dad has signed her up for sixty days of treatment. But what no one knows is that Stevie doesn’t plan to stay that long. There are only twenty-seven days until the anniversary of her brother Josh’s death—the death she caused. And if Stevie gets her way, there are only twenty-seven days until she, too, will end her life. Paperweight follows seventeen-year-old Stevie’s journey as she struggles not only with a life-threatening eating disorder, but with the question of whether she can ever find absolution for the mistakes of her past…and whether she truly deserves to.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • A PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST • Set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse—the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity. • Now an original series on HBO Max. • Over one million copies sold! One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century Kirsten Raymonde will never forget the night Arthur Leander, the famous Hollywood actor, had a heart attack on stage during a production of King Lear. That was the night when a devastating flu pandemic arrived in the city, and within weeks, civilization as we know it came to an end. Twenty years later, Kirsten moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians. They call themselves The Traveling Symphony, and they have dedicated themselves to keeping the remnants of art and humanity alive. But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who will threaten the tiny band’s existence. And as the story takes off, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, the strange twist of fate that connects them all will be revealed. Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s bestselling new novel, Sea of Tranquility!
