Laughlin, Ledlie Irwin — Pewter in America: Its Makers and Their Marks

Cambridge, Houghton Mifflin Company / Riverside Press, 1940. Hardcover. Grey cloth covers with tan cloth spines and black leather labels. Decorative end papers. Housed in remnants of a black slipcase with cream paper title label. Vol. 1: xvii, + [3] + 138 pp. with bw frontis and 58 bw plates. Vol. 2: [9] + 243 pp. with bw frontis and plates numbered 59-78. Each frontis with a tissue guard. Traces development of pewter in England and America. Chapters cover the business of a pewterer, pewter marks, household pewter, ecclesiastical pewter, and pewterers of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Bay. Altough a newer, re-printed and somewhat revised edition is available, this original printing of the first edition is a must-have for any library on pewter or American decorative arts. Both volumes NF internally and externally (but for light rubbing/wearing to label on Vol. I. Slipcase is very worn, and bottom/base panel is detached but taped back in place. Slipcase is still, however, protective.