Nobles bankrupted themselves in pursuit of it. Young convent girls labored for sixty hours just to make a square inch of it. The Victorians revived it with a passion, and today we've re-revived it. Whether suggesting innocence or intimacy, romance or refinement, lace has again woven its spell. From the crude open cutwork of the fourteenth century to the glories of Alencon, Chantilly, Mechlin and Valenciennes, THE LOVE OF LACE celebrates the highest expression of the needleworker's art. Gracing the pages are collages, mixing exquisite antique laces with fresh flowers and silver heirlooms, bibelots and luscious portraits. Fine enough to be drawn through a wedding band or heavily worked for a dining table, lace is a poem in thread, the fabric of romance. The love of lace is universal.

CYNTHIA HART is a noted designer and co-author of A Victorian Scrapbook; Joy to the World: A Victorian Christmas; Forget-Me-Nots: A Victorian Book of Love; Parlor Cats: A Victorian Celebration; and The Victoriana Calendar. CATHERINE CALVERT, editor-at-large at Victoria magazine, wrote Having Tea and Cradle and All, published by Clarkson N. Potter.