John Gloag


John Gloag was an English writer in the fields of furniture design and architecture, as well as science and speculative fiction. Gloag served with the Welsh Guards during the First World War, and was invalided home after suffering gas poisoning.

Writings on design

Artifex, or the Future of Craftsmanship, part of the To-day and To-morrow series, was a pamphlet by Gloag that discussed the relationship between artistic craftmanship and mass production.
Gloag's A Short Dictionary of Furniture was a reference book covering the history and types of furniture from the tenth century to the 1960s.

Novels

Gloag's first science fiction novel, Tomorrow's Yesterday, was inspired by the work of H. G. Wells
and Gloag's friend Olaf Stapledon. Tomorrow's Yesterday
is a satire that depicts a race of cat people from the distant future observing human society. In The New Pleasure a powder that greatly
increases the sense of smell causes a social upheaval. Winter's Youth revolves around a
longevity technology, which falls into the hands of a corrupt politician,
with disastrous social consequences. In Manna
a journalist discovers a plan to develop a fungus that could end world hunger.
99% is about an experiment to give humans access to their race memory.
Later in his career Gloag wrote historical fantasy novels; Caesar of the Narrow Seas,
The Eagles Depart and Artorius Rex. Artorius Rex
focuses on King Arthur and Sir Kay.

Fiction publications

Novels

Tomorrow's Yesterday The New Pleasure Winter's Youth Sweet Racket Ripe for Development Sacred Edifice Documents Marked Secret Unwilling Adventurer Manna I Want An Audience Mr. Buckby is Not at Home 99% In Camera Kind Uncle Buckby All England at Home Not in the Newspapers Slow Unlawful Justice Rising Suns Caesar of the Narrow Seas The Eagles Depart
  • ''Artorius Rex''

Short stories

It Makes a Nice Change First One and Twenty
  • ''Take One a Week: An Omnibus of Volume of 52 Short Stories''

Non-fiction publications

  • Colour & Comfort in Decoration
  • Time, Taste and Furniture
  • Artifex, or the Future of Craftsmanship
  • Home Life in History: Social Life and Manners in Britain, 200 BC-AD 1926 co-authored with C. Thompson Walker
  • Modern Home Furnishing from "Macmillan's Sixpenny Self-Help Library" series
  • Men and Buildings
  • English Furniture from "The Library of English Art" series
  • Industrial Art Explained
  • Design in Modern Life editor
  • The American Nation: A Short History of the United States
  • The Place of Glass in Building editor
  • The Englishman's Castle: A History of Houses, Large and Small, in Town and Country from AD 1000 to the Present Day
  • The Missing Technician in Industrial Production
  • Plastics and Industrial Design
  • British Furniture Makers from the "Britain in Pictures" series
  • Industrial Art Explained
  • Self Training for Industrial Designers
  • The English Tradition in Design from the "King Penguin" series
  • A History of Cast Iron in Architecture co-authored with Derek Bridgwater
  • How to Write Technical Books
  • 2,000 Years of England
  • A Short Dictionary of Furniture
  • *revised and expanded as John Gloag's Dictionary of Furniture
  • Georgian Grace: A Social History of Design 1660-1830
  • Guide to Western Architecture
  • The English Tradition in Design
  • Advertising in Modern Life
  • Victorian Comfort: A Social History of Design from 1830-1900
  • Victorian Taste: Some Social Aspects of Architecture and Industrial Design from 1820-1900
  • The English Tradition in Architecture
  • Architecture from "The Arts of Man" series
  • The Englishman's Chair: Origins, Design, and Social History of Seat Furniture in England
  • Enjoying Architecture from the "Oriel Guide" series
  • Mr Loudon's England: The Life and Work of John Claudius Loudon, and his Influence on Architecture and Furniture Design
  • Guide to Furniture Styles: English and French, 1450 to 1850
  • ''The Architectural Interpretation of History''