Last Links to the Past - 20th Century South Jersey Glass book Clevenger Haunton

Description

Last Links to the Past - 20
th
Century South Jersey Glass Volume 1 - Clevenger Brothers by Thomas C. Haunton
Brand New 4
th
Printing
“A spectacular piece of research and writing”
Dwight Lanmon, Retired Directors
Corning Museum of Glass
Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum
“
Attention glass lovers and bottle collectors: You need this book!!!”
Barbara E. Mauzy
author – Mauzy’s Drepression Glass
“With this volume Tom Haunton has produced a much needed chronicle of one of America’s last great families of glass makers. It represents an indispensible component within the historical narrative of American glass production and collecting.
Tom Haunton’s many years of interaction with the Clevenger family and a large number of those involved with the firm allows him to provide readers with an inside look into the everyday lives of those associated with the history of this important chapter of glass production in the United States.  He is able to provide a personal connection that researchers who rely solely on archeological or documentary evidence cannot afford.  In this age of pseudo “reality” TV and “tell-all” books, Haunton’s exposition faithfully illustrates the real life of glassworkers and their industry in South Jersey during the 20th century.
Two thumbs up Tom!”
Jeffrey S. Evans
All About Glass,
Vol. 9, no. 4, Jan. 2012
Softback edition with 438 pages
Over 800 photos / illustrations
Catalogs, advertisements, glass formulas, employee bios, handle identification, molds, tools, glassmaking processes
free-blown, mold-blown, & pressed glass, whimsies,
historical flasks, lilypad decoration, rarities & oddities, rarity index
Listings of over 1,000 commemorative bottles
Offered here is a brand-new hot-off-the-press 4
th
printing of this unique work – combination
history book, manufacturing process picture book, and detailed production catalog of one of New Jersey’s best known but rapidly disappearing products, hand-blown glass.
Last Links to the Past - 20
th
Century South Jersey Glass Volume 1 - Clevenger Brothers
tells the story of the Clevenger brothers of Clayton, at one time the operators of the last “green-system” glass factory in New Jersey. The men and women who worked at Clevenger’s manufactured glass in the “South Jersey Tradition,” using methods quite literally passed on to them by 19
th
century glassworkers. If they had folded along with the many other glass companies that closed shortly after World War II, I believe it’s fair to say that many of the businesses that followed in their footsteps may never have existed. Without Clevenger Brothers, the “South Jersey Tradition” of glassmaking could very well have come to an end decades ago.
Last Links to the Past
details the Clevenger glassmaking processes through a series of photographs, most of them published for the very first time.  Presented here are the methods of making both free-blown and mold-blown glass, how to attach a handle and make the whimsical lily leaf, and how pressed glass pieces and glass weights were made. Short biographies of over 130 known Clevenger employees are also offered (These bios can range from a sentence to a long paragraph.), along with Clevenger glass formulas, production catalogs and advertisements, and photos of some of the molds and tools used to make the glass. A chapter of anecdotes and trivia covers some humorous and interesting information about the Clevengers and their employees that doesn’t quite fit into the other chapters. Over its 438 pages,
Last Links to the Past
includes 829 photographs and documents; 686 in color/sepia and 143 in black and white.
The star of this book, of course, is the glass itself. The vast bulk of what was produced in the Clevenger factory over a period of seventy years is documented, including the commemorative pieces from the years of James Travis ownership, complete with a never-before-published list of over a thousand different pieces of Clevenger commemorative glass. Each of the 200+ regular production pieces and historical flasks are listed individually with a photograph, measurements, identification details, and other interesting information. An additional 100+ non-catalog pieces are presented in the same fashion. Unique whimsical pieces, rarities, and oddities are also displayed, most produced by Clevenger Brothers employees after hours or while on break. Private mold pieces and special orders are also represented here.
One of the more important aspects of
Last Links to the Past
is documentation of the facts presented. Twenty-four years of research provided especially fertile ground for this work and the second volume to come, through inspection of hundreds of documents found in museums and other institutions, scores of interviews, correspondence with Clevenger family, employees, and friends, examination of thousands of pieces of Clevenger glass, as well as the many printed catalogs (some with only one surviving copy) that provide so much precise information of what was made. The six hundred endnotes supply the reader with specific reference to the origins of source materials, should a reader wish to further investigate some materials on their own. I also provide a “Rarity Index” to describe what pieces are rare, what is fairly common, and everything in between. This index takes into account the rarity of shapes, designs, and color as noted by the author over his twenty-eight years of collecting Clevenger glass.
Readers will be drawn to
Last Links to the Past
for different reasons; as a New Jersey history book, or as a 20
th
century South Jersey glass book, for the comprehensive production catalog of the Clevengers and their contemporaries, or perhaps for the details of the hand-blown glass manufacturing processes.
Clevenger Brothers has gained considerable notoriety over the years among the enthusiasts of early South Jersey glass because their glass can blur the boundaries of what a reproduction is supposed to look like. Some pieces are so “good” it is virtually impossible to tell the “real” from the “repro.” Considering that many glassworkers employed at Clevenger’s made “original South Jersey Glass” at some of South Jersey's prominent 19
th
century glasshouses long before the Clevengers went into business, the question ultimately becomes “Where does ‘original’ stop and ‘reproduction’ begin?”
Some collectors and antique dealers turn a blind eye to anything made after 1850, 1900, or some other arbitrary date, following the belief that nothing of consequence was made after that date. As a result, many are unprepared when they find something spectacular that they’re afraid to pass up, despite not knowing if that piece may be of more recent manufacture. To quote an antique dealer’s remark to me several years ago; “It’s important to keep track of the new knowledge. Would you like your accountant to prepare this year’s taxes using the tax law from 1913? Don’t you expect them to keep up to date with changes in the tax law?”
It is my belief that every glass historian, collector, and antique dealer should be aware of what was made at Clevenger Brothers. As the contents of
LLTTP
will attest, part of the importance of Clevenger’s is that they produced so many forms of glass - free-blown, mold-blown, pressed glass, bottles, historical flasks, whimsies, paperweights, garden balls, commemorative glass – in a multitude of designs and colors.
Last Links to the Past
was conceived as a cross-over book that had something for everyone – as I mentioned earlier - a unique combination of history book, manufacturing process picture book, and detailed production catalog about the Clevenger brothers and their glass. As such, this book was deemed too risky by the publishers I approached. The history book publisher didn’t have distribution connections to collectors, and visa-versa for the collector book publishers. As a result, I have taken on the job of self-publishing the book. For now, this book is available only through me and through my “Jerseyana” handle on Ebay.
It should be noted that until just recently I was not planning on reprinting this book. This was due to what I feared would be a great increase in publishing cost, a fear which turned out to be nowhere near what I thought it would be. The cost was more than 10 years ago, hence the increase in price from the 1
st
Edition softback from 2011, but less than the hardback printing of 2012. Since many purchasers have mentioned they preferred the first softback, I thought that would be the way to go, keeping the price down too. The book continues to be printed digitally.
This is a limited printing.
My apologies for the overprinting on the photographs in this ad. I’ve had problems with individuals copying photos and using them as their own.
Shipping via USPS Media Mail.
Ebay will charge you sales tax on this item for the state that you reside in unless you have given them a tax exempt number. This seller does not receive any of those funds. (In other word, “Don’t shoot the messenger!”)