New Digital Book Announcement
Bibliography of Glass: From the Earliest Times to the Present, Willy van den Bossche http://www-2019.verre-histoire.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Bibliography-of-Glass-Willy-Van-den-Bossche-English-Edition-4210-Titles-Publ.-February-2019.pdf
This comprehensive Bibliography of Glass, totalling more than 300 pages, is a compilation of over 4,200 books, articles and other sources relating to glass and glassmaking in various languages from the earliest times to the present (31st December 2018).
It is an exceptional work of reference and compendium in terms of the world-wide overview it provides of books on glass, glass technology, the art of glass, glassware, glass collections, exhibition catalogues, museum catalogues, sales catalogues and manuscripts relating to glass. The volume is intended for use by libraries, sellers of new and antiquarian books, collectors, historians, researchers, glass museums and any other institutions and individuals interested in ancient, antique or modern glass.
The works cited are arranged in alphabetical order according to authors’ last names. Any title lacking the name of the author has been included under the heading Anonymous. More than 450 museums relating to the art of glass from all over the world have also been catalogued, creating a book within a book. Wherever possible details of the authors, collectors, glass works, glass museums, institutions, companies, auctioneers and publishers are provided, with supplemental information such as their places of origin or business, age and dates of birth, death, foundation and closing.
Titles of works are given in their original language and all works are provided with their dimensions (Height x Width x Thickness) in cm.
This Digital Edition also enables easy and extensive searches via a computer’s search or find function.
The volume’s author, Willy Van den Bossche was born in Belgium in 1943 where he graduated in industrial engineering and then specialised in glass technology. For two years he worked as a Chief Plant Engineer in the bottle making industry in Antwerp (Belgium), during which time he began collecting glass bottles.
From 1971 until his retirement he worked as a Chief Patent Examiner in the field of glass technology at the European Patent Office (EPO) in Holland where he searched more than 4,000 glass patent applications world-wide.
In 1999, he authored the International Patent Classification in the field of Glass Technology (C03B) for the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the specialized Patent Agency of the United Nations.
For more than 50 years he has been a pioneer and a serious collector of European antique glass bottles (1500-1850) and utility glass, as well as all literature on glass, the art of glass and glassmaking from all over the world.
In 2001, after 12 years of research and development, he authored his first major reference work Antique Glass Bottles – Their History and Evolution (1500-1850) – A Comprehensive, Illustrated Guide – With a World-wide Bibliography of Glass Bottles (440 pages detailing 770 European bottles, jars and seals illustrating in full colour his entire private bottle collection).
In 2003, he received the Honor Roll Award of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC / USA) for his significant contributions to the hobby of collecting bottles.
In 2012, he authored his second major reference work Bibliography of Glass: From the Earliest Times to the Present (347 pages, 3,426 titles) after spending 10 years preparing this book in four languages (English, French, German and Dutch).
In February 2019, he authored this updated and extended Digital Edition of his most important private glass library containing all the significant literature devoted to antique glass and glass bottles world-wide in all languages.
The library contains 4,210 books which take up 82 running metres on the shelves.
Willy is a member of several international associations for the history of glass including the Glass Comity of the International Council of Museums (ICOM/Glass).
He has lectured and written many articles on antique bottles and glass.
He retired in 2003 and lives in Belgium.
