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Principles of decorative design

Dresser, Christopher · 1873 · London : Cassell, Petter, & Galpin · 37 pictures

Principles of Decorative Design by Christopher Dresser, published in London by Cassell, Petter, & Galpin in 1873, is a treatise on ornament aimed at designers and manufacturers. Its numbered plates show stylised palmette fans, interlaced key and band borders, a Gothic-style arched panel with foliage, and a carpet field with a geometric medallion. A designer could take from them the logic of repeating units, how borders frame a field, and how plant forms are simplified into flat, symmetrical motifs.

Decoration and ornament

Internet Archive · Getty Research Institute · Public domain (published before 1931) · More from this library