Edward Drummond Libbey was a glassmaker, industrialist, artist, innovator and art collector. Both practical and creative, he forever changed the glass industry with the automatic bottle-making machine and automatic sheet glass machine. This work examines the long career of Libbey, particularly his innovation of American flint cut glass, his contributions to the middle-class American table through affordable glassware, and his enormous art glass and painting collections, which eventually formed the basis for the Toledo Museum of Art’s collection. Libbey single-handedly revolutionized glassmaking, a craft which had gone virtually unchanged for 2000 years.

Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr., an international expert in management, manufacturing and globalization, is the author of numerous books on American industrial history, capitalism and notable business leaders. He lives in Maumee, Ohio.

Quentin R. Skrabec, Jr.
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 242
Bibliographic Info: 27 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6335-0
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8548-2
Imprint: McFarland

Preface      1

Introduction      3

1. A Crisis in Frogtown      5

2. A Personal and Industrial Genealogy      18

3. Edward Drummond Libbey      31

4. Toledo and Northwest Ohio of the 1880s      46

5. The Business Men’s Association      52

6. Florence Scott      61

7. The Turnaround      71

8. The Columbian World Fair      82

9. Industrialist and Glass Aristocrat      89

10. The Toledo Glass Company      100

11. Signature Years      108

12. The Glass Capitalist      124

13. Europe and Expansion      135

14. Grand Opening      152

15. The Story of Flat Glass      158

16. Working on a Legacy      170

17. The Taming of the Lion      179

18. Final Months      188

19. A Model CEO      196

20. An Industrial and Labor Republic      205

21. Industrial Designer and Marketing Genius      212

Chapter Notes      221

Bibliography      227

Index      229