Scottish immigrant James Bryce (1812–1893) began his glassmaking career at the age of ten as a child labourer on the floor of a Pittsburgh glasshouse working for $1.25 a week. In 1850 he founded his own glassware company just as pressed glass was increasing in popularity. Pressed glass transformed the lives of everyday people by making beautiful tableware widely available to those who could not afford the expensive blown and cut crystal enjoyed by their wealthy neighbours. Bryce became one of the largest producers of pattern glass in America and by 1871 was shipping its products all over the world. The company continued operations for 113 years, guided by second and then third generation family members. This volume celebrates the beauty and artistry of the naturalistic designs, colourful tableware, and whimsical novelties Bryce produced between 1850 and 1891. At its heart, this book is a highly-illustrated work with 190 newly commissioned colour plates beautifully photographed by leading decorative arts photographer Gavin Ashworth. It concludes with a compendium of authenticated Bryce products illustrated primarily with period line drawings that will be a valuable tool for both sophisticated glass scholars and casual collectors alike.

Some 120 masterpieces of furniture, silver, glass, medals, and sculpture are featured, including such monuments as Paul Revere's Liberty Bowl, furniture by Charles Eames, and crafts by Sam Maloof and Judy McKie.

For centuries Boston has been one of the most important furniture-making centres in America. Soon after the town's founding in 1630, Boston's joiners and turners were the first craftsmen to make furniture in British North America, and the city's cabinetmakers contributed to the art and craft of furniture making throughout the elegant colonial and federal periods. Its factories and designers have also been a source of fine furniture, creating major pieces in the various revival styles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Cabinetmaker and the Carver showcases rare and exemplary pieces from private collections, illustrating three centuries of Boston history through carefully selected examples of furniture that represent the trajectory of this great tradition. Distributed for the Massachusetts Historical Society.