Arts & Crafts  / Craftsman

Books

Recommended Books

Stickley’s Craftsman Homes
by Ray Stubblebine: Gibbs Smith, 2006.
A really, really big compilation of all the published plans from 1904 to 1916, with original floor plans and renderings, and some historic photos. Most provocatively, Stubblebine (himself the owner of a 1910 house built according to plan #104) shows us contemporary photos of the houses as they have been rediscovered today.

Craftsman Style
by Robert Winter: Abrams 2004.
A comprehensive survey “of this quirky movement” and its revival, with large-format photographs and an intelligent discussion of what is behind the label, from California to New Jersey. Goes beyond strictly Craftsman to Bernard Maybeck, quasi-Tudors, and Disney’s recent Grand Californian Hotel, a weird kind of Craftsman museum.

Gustav Stickley
by David Cathers: Phaidon, 2003.
A critical study of the life and the enterprise, focused on the furniture. Includes archival photos, old advertisements, and extensive documentation of the furniture, metalwork, and decorative objects. Includes chapters on Harvey Ellis, and an appendix with biographies of 17 other collaborators.

Stickley Style
by David Cathers: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
History and biography, the furniture, and beautiful photos taken inside the homes of some of the most noted collectors of Stickley furniture.

The Arts and Crafts Home
by Kitty Turgeon and Robert Rust Friedman/Fairfax, 1998.
An introduction to American A&C houses, showing interiors, with a preference for those from Stickley and Hubbard (the Roycrofters), and a discussion of regional variants.

Craftsman Homes
by Gustav Stickley, More Craftsman Homes, Craftsman Bungalows all by Gustav Stickley: reprinted in paperback by Dover during the 1980s and still available through amazon.com

also:

Arts and Crafts Furniture
by Kevin P. Rodel and Jonathan Binzen: Taunton, 2004
An in-depth, beautifully photographed book by furniture makers. Though it explores the differences between English and American Arts and Crafts furniture, this is the only book with an emphasis on American goods, from the famous to the lesser known. Very good reading, educational.

Gustav Stickley
by David Cathers: Phaidon, 2003
The definitive book on Craftsman Workshop furniture and its creator.

Stenciling the Arts & Crafts Home
by Amy Miller: Gibbs Smith 2006.
Stenciled decoration was used everywhere: on walls, curtains and portieres, table scarves, aprons . . . in the frieze area or as a border, between mouldings and battens and beams. Writing with authority and sincerity, Miller explore original stencil designs of the period, then goes into practice, telling beginners what to buy, advising on prep and layout, explaining how to design and cut out stencils, how to choose colors, how to handle corners, etc.

Arts & Crafts Textiles
by Ann Wallace: Gibbs Smith, 1999.
Understanding, collecting, and re-creating the embroidered and stenciled pillows, table runners, curtains, centerpieces, etc., with reference to designs first seen in The Craftsman magazine.

related:

The Bungalow, America’s Arts & Crafts Home
by Paul Duchscherer and Douglas Keister: Viking Studio, 1996.
The book that irrevocably married the Bungalow with the concurrent Arts & Crafts movement of the first quarter of the 20th century. Full of information and pictures specific to American residences, although most of the examples are in California.

Inside the Bungalow
by Paul Duchscherer and Douglas Keister: Viking Studio, 1997.
Essentially about the period’s Arts and Crafts-influenced interiors, this book is full of ideas for hearths, colors, walls, furniture, lighting, tile, etc.

Outside the Bungalow
by Paul Duchscherer and Douglas Keister: Viking Studio 1999.
The most down-to-earth book on suburban Arts and Crafts-era gardens.

Beyond the Bungalow
by Paul Duchscherer and Linda Svendsen: Gibbs Smith, 2005.
This book of lavish photographs goes further than the bungalow: to chalets, English Revival houses, and the occasional Foursquare.

Bungalow Kitchens
by Jane Powell and Linda Svendsen: Gibbs Smith, 2000.
This is documentation and nitty-gritty advice for restoring, renovating, or re-creating the rather plain yet evocative early-modern kitchen of the era: tile, glossy cream-painted cabinets, linoleum. A good place to start if you don’t want a 2007 “showroom kitchen” that will soon look dated, and if you don’t need to spend six figures on cherry woodwork and European fixtures.

Bungalow Baths
by Jane Powell and Linda Svendsen: Gibbs Smith, 2002.
The kitchen team tackles the A&C bathroom, showing us the period appropriate types and describing them in detail: white tile to fir wainscot, painted and papered, plain and fancy. Good advice whether you’re restoring or reviving the look anew.