Monroe Fabian

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The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest

In the field of art and antiques, few books survive the test of time to become regarded as “classics.” Monroe Fabian’s 1978 edition of The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest is such a work. With more than two hundred fifty illustrations, this book is a visual feast of decorated chests. Now, more than twenty-five years later, this book still stands as the only significant work to be published on the subject of the Pennsylvania German decorated chest. It is the preeminent encyclopedia of Pennsylvania German blanket chests. Collectors, scholars and curators rely upon its images to identify the accepted standard of decorated chests. Fabian’s thoroughness in identifying so many different chests means that readers have a suitable beginning point for comparing examples that they own or may come to view. With this edition, new color photography has been obtained or as many of the original chests as could be identified. Also where recent scholarship has produced new information, attributions and other information has been corrected. With a new foreword and updated photography, including an expanded color section and several new examples, this volume will be of interest to collectors, scholars, and all those who have a love of the richly decorated chests made by the Pennsylvania Germans.