The fragile beauty of glass has ensured its popularity through the ages in form ranging from simple beakers to ornate decorative masterpieces. This book traces the history of glass from its origins in Western Asia some 5000 years ago, through the invention of glass-blowing around the 1st century BC, to the introduction of merchanised process and new styles in the 19th and 20th centuries. It high-lights the flourishing industries of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the elegant vessels of the Islamic Near East, the superb mastery of Renaissance Venice and the wide- ranging experiments of modern Europe and America. A unique feature of the book is the series of photographic sequences specially taken in the studio of a modern glassmaker as he reconstructs ancient techniques ; these are accompamied by a glossary of glassmaking terms

• Acknowledgements
• Hugh Tait
• Veronica Tatton-Brown and Carol Andrews
• Veronica Tatton-Brown
• Veronica Tatton-Brown
• Ralph Pinder-Willosong
• Introduction Faking
• Chapter one: Before the invention of glassblowing The first glassmakers 2500-1200 BC
• Egypt c.1450-1100 BC
• Western Asia and the Mediterranean C.900-300 BC
• Hellenistic and non-blown Roman glass c.325 BC - AD 400
• Chapter two: The roman Empire Early blown glass 1st century AD
• The roman achievement AD 100-400
• Chapter three: Early medieval Europe AD 400-1066 Chapter four: The Islamic lands and China Early Islamic glass ith-11th centuries
• Islamic glass 12th-15th centuries
• Later Islamic glass 16th-19th centuries
• Chinese glass

• Chapter five: Europe from the Middle ages to the industrial revolution Hugh Tait
• Paul Hollister
• Hugh Tait
• William Gudenrath
• Byzantium and medieval Europe 10th-15th centuries
• Venice and Renaissance Europe 15th-17th centuries
• North of the Alps 17th-18th centuries
• Chapter six: Europe and America 1800-1940 Cut and engraved glass
• Pressed glass
• some special techniques and achievements
• Five formative artists
• Epilogue Techniques of glassmaking and decoration Glossary
• Further reading
• Illustration credits and museum accession number
• The contributors