Old Glass And How To Collect It

THE origin of glass is lost in antiquity. Pliny, indeed, ascribes its discovery to certain Phoenician mariners who, being ship- wrecked upon a sandy shore, used a block of the natron which formed their cargo to sup- port a pot which they were putting over an improvised fire. The heat fused the sand with the natron, and lo! the glass was discovered in the ashes. Since, however, Pliny's authority was Rumour, and since, also, such a phenomenon is a physi- cal impossibility — for no bonfire could produce a temperature at which sand would fuse — it is possible that Rumour in Pliny's day had a no greater reputation for reliability than in the twentieth century. But the story, if not true, is at least well invented and serves to show at how early an age in the world's history glass was known.

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Table of Contents:

Copyright

OLD GLASS AND HOW TO COLLECT IT

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER II EARLY ENGLISH GLASS

CHAPTER III EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY GLASS

CHAPTEK IV MEMORIAL GLASSES

CHAPTER V BRISTOL AND NAILSEA GLASS

CHAPTER VI IRISH GLASS CORK AND WATERFORD

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