The Drama of Glass (Unabridged‪)‬

The Drama of Glass, by Kate Field, was published in 1895 and attempts to tell a sweeping story about the past, present, and future of glass while at the same time advertising it's publisher, the Libby Glass Company. The prologue begins with speculations of the origns of glass by the Phoenicians and Venetians. It also depicts the beginings of glass in America in 1608. The next section of the book details the evolution of glass from 1850 to 1893, focusing, not suprisingly, on Libby Glass.

The third section of the book dramatically departs from the history laid out so far to relate the fairy tale of Cinderella's glass slippers metaphorically to actress Georgia Cayvan's journey to create a dress spun out of glass, which was later duplicated by a Spanish princess. The last section returns to the Libby Glass Company and their involvement in the World's Fair of 1893. This section asks the readers (presumably those who attended the fair themselves) questions about their own experiences to encourage their own reflections on the exhibit.