Dating from the 1850s to the First World War, the Arts and Crafts Movement was an international phenomenon of enormous scope and influence. It encompassed everything from architecture to town planning, metalwork and embroidery, in places as diverse as California and Budapest. Born of thinkers and practitioners in Victorian England its ideological currents reflect the era’s most pressing social, political and artistic concerns.

Early British Arts and Crafts practitioners campaigned for a revival of old craft techniques, for the elevation of the applied arts and for honesty in design. These aims were quickly picked up and developed across Europe and the United States, with many national variants soon emerging. In this fascinating and beautifully illustrated introduction to the subject, Rosalind Blakesley explores the common ideas that give cohesion to this wide and stylistically varied movement.