I had been watching for this book and was pleased to find it locally. Unfortunately all available copies were sealed in plastic. On the strength of photos of Massachusetts quilts I have seen in books on general quilt history, and a number of rave reviews, I decided to take a chance. Big mistake.

For me this book has entirely too much history and not nearly enough quilts. The book is nicely put together, and it might be worth half the cost of the hardcover, but this is not what I am looking for in a state quilt documentation book.

My biggest complaint is the lack of photos. With a total of 336 pages, this book has only 218 illustrations - and these include oil paintings, a hand-painted plaque, and other works of art; several landscape scenes including the Alcott family residence; numerous portraits of quilters; an incredible 7 photos of quilted petticoats; and several hand-sketched illustrations of wholecloth quilts. With so many photos "wasted" on non-quilty items, I figure the cost of the hardcover edition is roughly $1 per actual quilt photo.

This book does include quite a bit of Massachusetts history, and biographies of most of the quilters whose quilts appear here. If you prefer photos of quilts, see Northern Comfort: New England's Early Quilts 1780-1850 by the same author. ( )