This is a basic book on decoration in western Europe and North America. It concerns itself chiefly with commercial or professional ornamentation, excluding folk arts. This leads to some slightly odd-seeming histories: should knotwork and trees-of-life really be traced to Islamic and Indian roots, when my understanding is that both were established in European traditional art? Or is it that imports brought these motifs to the attention of professional designers, who ignored them in folk art?

The book gives a very good introduction to the functions of decoration. It sometimes disguises, or better, makes am aesthetic virtue of deisgn necessities. It is beautifully illustrated with pieces that I presume come the the V&A collection.

Somewhat to my surprise, it is not a reference work. It really needs to be read from beginning to end, especially since there is no glossary. I think that more definitions are necessary; there are some terms: is the "tooth" on a spoon the finial? Not all of the parts of a column were defined. There is an excellent representation of different types of molding, but it would have been easier to read if the labels and and examples were numbered. There are helpful page links between related sections.

On the whole, I was somewhat disappoointed, but I did learn a fair amount, and it is a good reference for certain things. ( )