Journal of Glass Studies by Corning Museum of Glass (review)

664 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE than the article included in this volume by Charles F. Montgomery, which was aimed at the more limited “field of early American arts and history.” The editors have attempted to balance their presentation of the research function of museums with the inclusion of G. Carroll Lindsay’s “Museums and Research in History and Technology” (Cura­ tor, 1962). Unfortunately, the physical aspects of this book intrude upon its substance. It was printed from Xerox plates of the articles in their original form with the pages simply renumbered. This has some inherent drawbacks. For example, two articles that were originally in books refer to appendixes that do not exist here. In some instances the distortion that is apt to occur around the edges of Xeroxed pages is evident. The quality of Xerox is also not uniform, and portions of words are some­ times virtually illegible. The most- glaring physical defect of this book is that pictures were not included except for the Battison article. In the study of material culture the picture has an important role. This is particularly evident in Edward P. Alexander’s article on “A Fourth Dimension for History Museums” (Curator, 1968). When it originally appeared the pictures were an important part of the article, for his argument that museums can and do present an authentic historical envi­ ronment is based largely on his pictures. It is disconcerting to the reader constantly to find references to pictures that are not in the text. The method of printing obviously precluded any revision or updating of the articles by their authors or the elimination of irrelevant references. Although the book is intended primarily for the student, it is almost prohibitively expensive, especially for a paperback book. The usual short biographical notes on the contributors would have been helpful, as would have a listing· of other articles of interest for further reading. Despite its faults, this is the only work to draw together into convenient form the nucleus of material culture theory and practice from their disparate hiding places. It will certainly stand until something better comes along. Peter H. Smith* Journal of Glass Studies. Vol. 11. Corning, N.Y.: Corning Museum of Glass, 1969. Pp. 148; illustrations. $7.00. When the Journal of Glass Studies did not make its appearance at the accustomed time, students of glass the world over must have wondered anxiously if anything was seriously amiss at Corning, but eventually volume 11 arrived—at an advanced but still very reasonable pricemaintaining its superb standard of content and production. The editor, Paul N. Perrot, continues to cast his net wide for contributions, and this year he has once again penetrated the Iron Curtain—and where glass studies are concerned it would appear that if a curtain does exist it is * Mr. Smith is a graduate student in the George Washington University-Smithsonian Institution cooperative program in material culture. TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 665 not the formidable obstacle that Westerners have encountered in other respects. One of the most welcome items in the volume is a history of glass manufacture in Estonia in the 18th and 19th centuries by Professor Maks Roosma of the Department of Glass in the State Art Institute at Tallinn. The author has plotted forty-three glassworks dating from the 17th century (at Huti, and a plan of this glasshouse furnace is given), with twenty-one in the 18th, eleven of the 19th, and ten of the 20th century. He records that today only four are in operation in Estonia. The earliest factories were probably set up to use, as fuel, the abundance of timber which landowners were forbidden to export, and the names— they include Kunckel—of the workmen engaged in glass production indicate that they had been attracted there from Germany. Clay and raw materials were also imported from Germany and Holland, and the discovery of two bottle seals marked “London” suggests to the author that the 18th-century Gorodyonka factory could have been supported by British capital. Excavations by the author at the works being oper­ ated in 1740 on the Piirsalu estate in northwest Estonia reveal that a wide range of vessels, bottles, jars, and

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