Principles of decorative design
Principles of Decorative Design by Christopher Dresser, published in London by Cassell, Petter, & Galpin in 1873, is a treatise on ornament aimed at designers and manufacturers. Its numbered plates show stylised palmette fans, interlaced key and band borders, a Gothic-style arched panel with foliage, and a carpet field with a geometric medallion. A designer could take from them the logic of repeating units, how borders frame a field, and how plant forms are simplified into flat, symmetrical motifs.
