author
Mrs. Graydon Stannus
Best known for writing Old Irish Glass and for founding the Gray-Stan glassworks in London, this Irish-born writer and designer helped spark lasting interest in historic Irish glass. Her story sits at the crossroads of scholarship, collecting, and craft.
1 Audiobook
Old Irish Glass
by Mrs. Graydon Stannus
About the author
Mrs. Graydon Stannus was the professional name of Elizabeth Graydon-Stannus, an Irish-born author and glass designer active in the early 20th century. Museum records identify her as Elizabeth Graydon-Stannus (1878–1961), and she is also remembered as a ceramicist and glass worker as well as a writer.
She is chiefly known for Old Irish Glass (1921), a richly illustrated book that introduced many readers and collectors to the history and appeal of Irish glass. Beyond writing about the subject, she also turned that interest into making: sources from the V&A and specialist glass histories connect her with the Gray-Stan studio in Battersea, London, where hand-made glass was produced during the 1920s and 1930s.
Her reputation is an interesting one because it combines enthusiasm, connoisseurship, and controversy. Later sources note that her book and her reproductions of historic-style glass drew criticism from some experts, but they also show how influential she was in keeping interest in Irish glass alive. Today, her work survives both in libraries and in museum collections, where her writing and her studio glass continue to attract attention.