Block printing, among the longest-established methods of transferring designs and patterns on to cloth, produces unique and diversely-employed results. Alan Powers quotes Grace Lovat Fisher in 1948 on the appeal of the technique: "Designs produced by this method have great liveliness, owing to the tiny irregularities which are inevitable in any hand process... There is that indefinable quality which always accompanies anything skillfully produced by hand".Accompanied by vivid colour illustration throughout, the study moves from Morris in the late 19th century, through the output of the Wiener Werkstatte, Forruny, the collaborations of painter Raoul Dufy and couturier Paul Poirer, Roger Fry and the Omega Workshops, to Art Deco work and the period up to and shortly after the Second World War.Alan Powers combines descriptions of the designs - often startlingly fresh and innovative - with details of the evolution of workshops and styles, the influences which artists of various disciplines have brought to block printing, and the commercial and aesthetic pressures which have shaped its progress through the century.The book also features suggestions for further reading and a list of places to visit with holdings of block printed textiles.As with its sister volumes, discerning collectors will find the format and the contents of this title in the Decorative Arts Library refreshing and delightful.

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