Overview
The September 1996 issue of The Magazine Antiques is a substantial decorative arts and collecting reference that reflects the broad intellectual scope that made the publication indispensable to collectors, dealers, museum professionals, and scholars throughout the twentieth century. Unlike narrowly focused trade publications, The Magazine Antiques regularly crossed national boundaries and collecting disciplines, bringing together furniture, ceramics, glass, fine art, textiles, metalwork, architecture, and material culture within a single issue.
This issue exemplifies that tradition. Readers encounter articles ranging from Scandinavian glassmaking and Japanese art history to American printmaking, French decorative ironwork, and the uniquely American tradition of sandpaper paintings. The result is not merely a magazine but a compact reference library preserving scholarship, photography, and collecting knowledge from a period when printed research remained the foundation of serious study.
The cover reproduces Arthur Wesley Dow's View of Ipswich (Sailboat), a color woodcut executed circa 1893-1895 and now held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Dow's work occupies an important place in American printmaking history, helping introduce Japanese compositional principles into American art and influencing generations of artists and designers. His appearance on the cover immediately signals the issue's emphasis on artistic quality and historical significance.
Dating / Background
Founded in 1922, The Magazine Antiques became one of the most respected periodicals devoted to antiques and decorative arts in the English-speaking world. For decades it served as a meeting point between scholarship and collecting, publishing museum-quality research in an accessible format. Auction specialists, dealers, collectors, curators, and academics relied upon its pages to stay informed about discoveries, exhibitions, collecting trends, and emerging scholarship.
The September 1996 issue demonstrates the publication's international outlook. Jan Kok contributes a study of Norwegian glass, exploring a field often overlooked by general collectors but important within the broader history of European decorative arts. Bruce A. Coats examines the arts of Japan's Momoyama period, one of the most influential eras in Japanese artistic development, noted for bold aesthetics, sophisticated craftsmanship, and enduring influence on ceramics, lacquer, architecture, and painting.
American collecting traditions receive equal attention. Lindsay Leard discusses American prints in the Arts and Crafts tradition, a movement that continues to attract collectors interested in craftsmanship, design reform, and the relationship between art and everyday life. Ulrich Leben contributes an article on French iron and steel figurative art, highlighting decorative metalwork traditions that bridged sculpture, design, and architecture. Randall and Tania Holton explore American sandpaper paintings, an unusual and distinctly American artistic form that occupies a fascinating intersection between folk art and fine art.
Together these articles reveal why back issues of The Magazine Antiques remain useful long after publication. Rather than serving merely as period journalism, they preserve focused research on subjects that often receive limited coverage elsewhere.
Why Collect
Historic issues of The Magazine Antiques have become increasingly attractive to collectors, researchers, and reference libraries because they preserve scholarship from a pre-digital era. Many articles published in the magazine remain difficult to locate online and continue to provide useful information for identification, attribution, collecting history, and decorative arts research.
This particular issue is especially appealing because it touches multiple collecting categories simultaneously. Collectors of Scandinavian glass, Japanese art, American Arts and Crafts material, decorative metalwork, folk art, printmaking, and museum publications all have a point of entry into the issue. It is equally suitable as a working reference, a collectible periodical, or a thoughtful addition to a decorative arts library.
Dimensions (inches)
- Height: 11 7/8
- Width: 9 1/8
- Depth: 3/8
- Weight: 1.4 lbs
Condition
Good to very good condition with minor cover wear and handling marks consistent with age and storage. Interior pages remain clean and well preserved. The first few pages display slight dog-earing. Overall, the issue presents well and remains entirely suitable for both research and collection.
Collector's Resource
For collectors building a decorative arts reference library, issues of The Magazine Antiques remain among the most useful period resources available. This issue offers a particularly broad range of subjects, making it relevant to collectors of glass, Japanese art, prints, folk art, decorative metalwork, and museum publications.
