Three New Books on Quilt History

American Quilts by Robert Shaw

Kathie, inspiredbyantiquequilts.blogspot.com, wrote recently about a new book purchase that she made.  So, not wanting to be terribly late in being scooped on this new resource, I made my way over to Amazon to get the skinny on the new book by Robert Shaw titled American Quilts: The Democratic Art, 1780 – 2007.   From Kathie’s review it seems like just the type of item that I will be wanting to tell Santa all about.  How timely….after all isn’t this why we get together for Thanksgiving?  At least I believe that’s what the children think it’s for. 

Hidden Histories, Untold Stories, edited by Sue Prichard

But, Amazon is just too darn smart.  They knew exactly what I really wanted and told me about two new quilt books that are available on pre-order that are being published by UK authors.  The first is Hidden Histories, Untold Stories which is to be the major book release to accompany the V&A quilt exhibit that I’ve been talking about for a while now.  Edited by Sue Prichard, the curator of the exhibit, I can only imagine what treasures it will contain.  The bibliography of books written on UK quilt history is all too short, so it’s wonderful news to have something new to look forward to.  I had fully intended on purchasing this book while in England next year, but I’m now thinking that it might be nice to have a little luggage weight freed up for other treasures.   Sue Prichard also has produced a book for those just starting out in quilt making.  It’s called Patchwork for Beginners and is also available for pre-order. 

Classic Quilts by Kate Hebert

Another book that Amazon thought I’d like to know about is a new publication by Kate Hebert of the American Museum in Britain.  Titled Classic Quilts, it appears to be a book on American quilts in their collection.  I have two previous publications from the Museum, both written by the former curator, Shiela Betterton.  But those little books (actually, almost booklets) didn’t have many color pictures of the quilts, and the pictures were small.  So, this should be a treat to get an expanded view of the collection.

Generally I encourage folks to purchase quilt related items at their local shop.  But, I’m not entirely sure that these three books are the kind of publications that will make their way to the quilt shops.   Happy shopping.

–Penny

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