DECORATIVELY SPEAKING

A tremendous amount of information is compacted into this single volume survey of the whole field of period decoration. She starts with the Italian and Spanish types; then traces English furnishings and decorations from the 17th century through the Victorian; the American from Colonial through Federal; the successive periods of French decorative history; the Moderns. She discusses each period from historical and social angles, goes into furniture, wall and floor treatments, color, textiles, lighting, costumes, etc. She stresses the influence exerted by time, materials, location, social and religious backgrounds, functional developments. And at the end she summarizes fundamentals of good decorating. Excellent for general survey in compact form.