Books: Secrets of Good Design for Artists, Artisans, and Crafters

Here's an interesting book I picked up the other day: Secrets of Good Design for Artists, Artisans, and Crafters by Burl N. Osburn. It's one of those Dover re-prints of historical books (which I love, of course) This one in particular was originally published with the title Constructive Design in 1948. It's basically an instructional manual that covers design concepts and principles in a variety of media. What really makes this book unique is the abundance of useful illustrations and the tidy hand-written text. While this book is decidedly educational in purpose, it is more of a primer than a textbook. It is very short and to the point, focusing on fundamental guidelines for creating and appreciating good design. It even contains a section of practice exercises. While some of the objects and processes described in the book are now obsolete, most of the information in this book is still useful