The Design History Reader (Paperback)

Grace Lees-Maffei

ISBN 10: 1350133493 / ISBN 13: 9781350133495

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London, 2025

About this Item

Paperback. This revised and updated edition addresses the international history and practice of design from the 17th century to the present day. Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, the Reader provides an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading.The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more. Shipping may be from our UK warehouse or from our Australian or US warehouses, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781350133495

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Design History Reader (Paperback)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1350133493
• ISBN 13: 9781350133495
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 2nd Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This revised and updated edition addresses the international history and practice of design from the 17th century to the present day.

Covering both primary texts by social theorists, designers and design reformers, and secondary texts in the form of key works of design history and design thinking, the Reader provides an essential resource for understanding the history of design, the development of the discipline, and contemporary issues in design history and practice, including decolonization, sustainability, historiography, gender and globalization. Extracts are grouped into thematic sections, each with a contextualizing introduction by the editors, and a guide to further reading.

The updated edition of The Design History Reader expands upon its original content and features numerous significant voices from across the globe. Authors include William Morris, Karl Marx, Roland Barthes, Victor Margolin, Penny Sparke, Judy Attfield, Ellen Lupton, and many more.

About the Authors

Grace Lees-Maffei is Professor of Design History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. She is the editor of Iconic Designs (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2014) and Writing Design (Berg, 2011), co-author of Reading Graphic Design in Cultural Context (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019), and co-editor of Made in Italy (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013) and The Design History Reader (Berg, 2010, second edition forthcoming). She is also co-editor of Bloomsbury's Cultural Histories of Design series.

Rebecca Houze is Professor of Art History at Northern Illinois University, USA, where she teaches courses on the history of design and the decorative arts.