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The
Lamps of Tiffany by Egon Neustadt might
be expensive, but you can always resell this
world standard reference book on Louis Comfort
Tiffany and Tiffany Studios lamps and lighting
if you ever want to- which you won't. First
published in 1970, The Lamps of Tiffany
remains the standard reference work on the complete
range of lamp styles, designs and colors of
the lamps and glass made at the Tiffany Studios.
This large volume (13.5 by 10.5 inches, 6 pounds)
was reprinted in 1993 from the original plates,
and it includes includes 293 amazing illustrations
(most of them color photographs) of the diverse
array of Louis Comfort Tiffany lamps and lighting.
Featured are some of the finest Tiffany Studios
lamps in their rarest colors including the Dragonfly,
Laburnum, Nautilus, Wisteria, Peony, Dogwood,
Magnolia, Apple Blossom, Lily, and many more.
The book is organized into sections illustrating
and describing the glass, lamps, chandeliers,
bases, fixtures, and markings on the original
Tiffany collection of Dr. Neustadt and his wife
Hildegard. Examples and photographs from other
important collections and from the Tiffany Studios
catalogue are also shown. Dr. Egon Neustadt,
an orthodontist born in Austria in 1898, began
collecting Tiffany lamps with his wife, Hildegard
in 1935, when they purchased their first desk
lamp in New York. Dr. Neustadt noted that when
he brought his first lamp home and placed it
on his desk, "Our friends didn't like it." Undaunted,
Neustadt's interest in the leaded glass shades
and bases became an all consuming passion, making
him one of the the earliest serious enthusiasts
of Tiffany lamps and assembling an encyclopedic
collection. Dr. Neustadt's passion eventually
led him to acquire some 500 crates of raw Tiffany
glass in the 1960s, remnants of the Corona,
NY glass factory left over after Tiffany Studios
went bankrupt. In 1970, Dr. Neustadt first published
his collection in this book The Lamps of
Tiffany. Neustadt classified the different
types of lamps and developed a nomenclature
to describe the various categories of lamp designs.
In 1983 Dr. Neustadt gave 135 lamps to The New
York Historical Society, where a selection is
on permanent exhibition. When he died in 1984,
Neustadt's Manhattan apartment contained hundreds
of Tiffany lamps and windows. This retained,
private treasure has become the core collection
of The Neustadt Museum of Tiffany Art which
maintains a permanent exhibit at Queens Museum
of Art in Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, Queens,
on the site of the 1939 and 1964 Worlds Fairs.
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