L. E. Smith Glass
Company, the First One Hundred Years: History, Identification and Value Guide,
by Tom Felt. Updated 2020. Originally published in 2007 and out of print since
2012, this volume was the first complete history of L. E. Smith, made possible
by unprecedented access to factory records, catalogs, photographs, and the
company “morgue” – thousands of sample pieces from 100 years of production. The
demand for a reissue of this volume has grown, with copies of the out-of-print
book being sold on the secondary market for $50.00 to $150.00. It is now
available from the Glass Flakes Press, scanned from the original work with
minor updates and corrections. In addition to the extensive history, it
includes sections identifying all production and many experimental colors,
including carnival glass, milk glass, and other opaque colors.
Approximately one third of the book is devoted to the major
patterns, including Mount Pleasant, Heritage (including many reproductions from
the McKee –Tec patterns), Dominion, Simplicity (Smith’s answer to Viking’s
Epic), Moon and Star, Hobnail, Daisy and Button, and many more.
The remainder of the book covers specialized products:
ruby-stained souvenir ware, candy containers, bedroom and bathroom glassware,
animals and covered animals dishes, candlesticks, and punch bowls. A general
index, pattern number index, and visual index are included.
398 pages in full color, with 1,008 illustrations. Printed
on glossy stock, with laminated covers and spiral binding. PLEASE NOTE: This volume is NOT hardbound.
Note: This was the first of two volumes about Smith written
by Tom Felt. The second volume (L. E.
Smith Encyclopedia of Glass Patterns & Products) will be reprinted in
the near future. There is some overlap between the two volumes, but each has
considerable content that is unique. The
history and most of the specialized products appear only in this volume.
If you are a member of WVMAG (at the $35.00 or above level), you will be refunded $4.00 from the price of this book after payment.If you are not already a member, please consider joining today.
About the West Virginia Museum of American Glass, Ltd. (WVMAG)
The West Virginia Museum of American Glass, Ltd. is a non-profit museum with a mission to share the diverse and rich heritage of glass as a product and historical object as well as telling of the lives of glass workers, their families and communities, and of the tools and machines they used in glass houses. WVMAG, Ltd. is located in Weston, West Virginia. The Museum includes representative samples of all glass products...from bottles to lightening rod balls, from telegraph insulators to glass used in automobiles, from pressed to blown tableware. We preserve the history of the places and people who made these products.
Our Museum examines the rich history of some of America's most famous glass factories, while at the same time carefully understanding the impact that the hundreds of smaller and often time forgotten glass houses made on the history of the glass industry.
The WVMAG displays many of the diverse and beautiful objects produced by factories during the past century. The museum attempts to compare and contrast similar pieces produced by once competing companies. No other public collection offers such contrasts on a large scale. |