THE FIRST BOOK OF GLASS

A fascinating subject is covered well by the Epsteins' text and by Bette Davis' meticulous and explicit drawings. Contrasting first the rarity of glass in ancient times with its commonness today, the text then tells how glass is made by nature and by man. Amplifying its man-made aspects, there is a brief history of glass blowing- in Egypt, in Venice, in the United States- and this sets the stage for the many modern uses of glass- in building, as decoration, in optical instruments and so forth. Each of the operations and uses is explained in detail sufficient to answer all the sharpest of incipient curiosities