content: The description for this book is quite vague so allow me to clear things up before you waste your money. First there is a series of short but windy chapters dealing with various aspects of design philosophy. Forty pages worth, to be exact. The rest of the book is a series of colour plates - "Studies in Design" - that are thoroughly hideous, intended to be used as patterns for wall paper, friezes, borders, ceiling paintings, dado-rails, etc. The author describes them as "grotesque" on several occasions and he's right, but not the way he intended. If you've ever looked through a book of wallpaper samples, you've got the idea. You can see one piece of a pattern, but never an application in the whole cloth.Almost nobody needs this book. Unless you're researching Arts & Crafts or Art Deco interior designs, or making reproduction wallpaper for the period, it is useless. Avoid.