Did you know that glassmaking was America's first manufacturing industry? Or that American inventors led the world in developing faster and faster methods for mass-producing glass objects? From its early beginnings in Jamestown, Virginia, to its growth and development thorughout the United States, Masterpieces of American Glass traces from the 17th century to the present day. It's the story of how American glassmaking emerged from the stage where nearly everything made of glass was functional to the dramatic new phase when artists began to use glass to create art. Masterpieces of American Glass tells how the English Aesthetic and Art Nouveau movements influenced the design and shape the modern American glass. It highlights the work of great glass innovators and designers such as Louis Comfort Tiffany, who became famous in Europe for his work related to the Art Nouveau style, and Frederick Carder. And it also features more than a hundred magnificently colored illustrations taken from two of the most comprehensive collections in the world - The Corning Museum of Glass and The Toledo Museum of Art - each of which is located in an important American glassmaking center, and from Lillian Nassau Ltd., the leading dealer in Art Nouveau glass. Through its historical documentation and pictures, Masterpieces of American Glass provides vivid insights into who American are as a people and why this country developed as it did in the nearly 400 years since the first European colonists arrived here. These exceptional glass treasures will rekindle your interest in this art form. -- from dust jacket.