During the Victorian and Edwardian eras, elaborately tiled walls and floors were revived as an essential element of interior decor. Now scores of richly decorative tile designs of the period have been reproduced in this permission-free collection, reprinted in beautiful full color from the plates of rare nineteenth and early twentieth century manufacturers' catalogs.The origins of these designs lie in the decorative-arts traditions of the civilizations of Islam, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, among others. Through the centuries, designers have produced variations on early prototypes found in Roman and Pompeiian villas, Arab mosques, Moorish palaces, and other historic structures. More than 400 spectacular examples inspired by over 2,000 years of the most imaginative and artistic approaches to tile design are contained in this magnificent collection — one of the largest single-volume sources of decorative tile designs in color.Artists, designers, interior decorators, and craftspeople will find here a rich source of inspiring and instructive design. General readers interested in the arts will enjoy browsing through this treasury of intriguingly beautiful motifs.