Books for Beginners:

We recommend these titles as introductions to the field.

General Antiques:

• Antiques Roadshow Primer:
  Introductory Guide to Antiques & Collectibles

Furniture:

• Antique Furniture (Antique Collector's Club)
• Field Guide to American Antique Furniture/
  ...System for Identifying the Style...American Antique Furniture
  - Includes line drawings of a vast array of styles and forms.  

Ceramics:

• Antique Porcelain (Antique Collector's Club)
• Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Porcelain
• New Handbook of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks: Revised Updated and Expanded Edition
  - Ceramics guru Geoffrey Godden's condensed book of marks.

Glass:

• Antique Glass (Antique Collector's Club)
• British Glass 1800-1914
• China and Glass in America, 1880-1980: From Table Top to TV Tray

Silver:

• Antique Silver (Antique Collector's Club)
• Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers
  -  The place to look for 19th & 20th century American silver marks.
• Jackson's Hallmarks, Pocket Edition
  -  A very good introduction to British silver marks.

Jewelry:

• American Jewelry Manufacturers
• Antique and Twentieth Century Jewellery

Textiles:

• Miller's Collecting Textiles

The 20th Century:

• Landmarks of Twentieth-Century Design
• Design 1935-1965: What Modern Was