Have you ever noticed that after you get a new glass book suddenly everything you see is in that book? That happened to me with this book, Imperial Glass by Archer. I got it and suddenly several pieces went from the “I’m Stumped Box” to the “Imperial Glass Box”. That feels good!
This book has good quality catalog reprints along with information about production dates, colors, glass marks and prices as of 1998. Archer wrote this initially in 1978 and had cooperation of the Imperial Glass company which then was still in business.
On the plus side this is useful. I was able to identify many pieces of cut and pressed glass, even some of the stylized flower cut pickle dishes and handled servers. (Those simple looking flower cuttings are the dickens to figure out.) The pictures are clear and there is a rudimentary index, something you don’t find in many books of catalog reprints.
On the down side, this is missing many patterns and it doesn’t give tips to tell Imperial glass apart from look-alikes. For instance, Imperial Mount Vernon is very like Tiffin Williamsburg. It is nice to know Mount Vernon has a waffle pattern center while Wiallimsburg has a pressed star.
I’ve found this about the most useful of the general Imperial Glass books. If you are trying to identify a tricky piece of Candlewick you will need a specialty book just on Candlewick (really, there are several!) but it’s overall a worthwhile book to add to your library.