Illustrates the development and rapid spread of Louis Daguerre's photographic invention in France by a variety of daguerreotypes drawn from the collection of the Musee d'Orsay.

The catalogues of the Paris Salons from the turn of the century provide a unique archive of illustrations of the decorative arts at a pivotal time in their development. These volumes contain over 5,500 illustrations of items of jewellery by leading designers such as Boucheron, Chaumet and Lalique. The pictures have been sourced and re-photographed from the original and often rare catalogues. They have been rearranged alphabetically by artist-designer thus providing an indispensable and practical reference for this seminal twenty year period. They are a unique source for identification and authentication and an invaluable key both to design ideas and the jewellery of the period. AUTHOR: Alastair Duncan is a consultant on nineteenth and twentieth century decorative arts to Christie's, New York. He is author of books, catalogues and articles on this and related subjects and one of the world's foremost authorities on the subject of Art Nouveau. 8 colour and 2500 b/w illustrations

The small sabil-kuttab (a charitable foundation particular to Cairo that combines a public water dispensary with a Quranic school) built in 1760 opposite the venerated Sayyida Zeinab Mosque is almost unique in Cairo: it is one of only two dedicated by a reigning Ottoman sultan, and--astonishingly--it is decorated inside with blue-and-white tiles from Amsterdam depicting happy scenes from the Dutch countryside. Why did the sultan, Mustafa III, cloistered in his Istanbul palace, decide to build a sabil in Cairo? Why did he choose this site for it? How did it come to be adorned with Dutch tiles? What were the connections between Cairo, Istanbul, and Amsterdam in the middle of the eighteenth century? The authors answer these questions and many more in this entertaining and beautifully illustrated history of an extraordinary building, describing also the recent conservation efforts to preserve it for posterity.

Seemingly contradictory ideas of privacy and community dominate Ottoman cities. While houses are internally divided to guard female modesty behind a frontage studded with peep-holes, streets in cities like Amasya are often bridged by first-floor passageways between different houses. This book contains 17 papers by architects and archaeologists looking at how the Ottoman house was structured, how it has varied over time and space, and how surviving examples are faring in a world of breeze-block construction. Although the examples discussed are all Near Eastern, and mostly from Turkey, the revelations this book contains about structuring principles will make it a valuable companion to understanding architectural relics from all over the Ottoman Empire.

A collection of Jewish-American literature written by various authors between 1656 and 1990.