SODE, Torben (2011). Perlen aus Glas: Farbige Geschichten, Essen: LWL-Industriemuseum, Westfälisches Landesmuseum für Industriekultur and the Glashütte Gernheim. ISBN: 978-3-8375-0669-3, hardback, 96 pp., fully illustrated in colour. Price: €6.50.
A small book accompanying an exhibition held in various German museums about the history and range of glass beads. The beads were used for dresses, broad collars, face veils, head coverings, baskets, and of course for jewellery of various kinds. The objects on display in the exhibition come from many different countries around the world.
All of the objects derive from the personal collection of the Danish bead historian, Torben Sode. These and other items will form the basis of a bead museum that Sode is going to open on the Danish island of Bornholm. Emphasis in the exhibition and this accompanying book is based on hand-made coloured glass beads that range in size from minute seed beads to large and heavy forms.
Recommendation: A beautifully illustrated book with general information about some of the more spectacular forms of glass beads. A useful book to have in a personal library (for those interested in beads, regional dress) as well as museum style libraries.
Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood
