~ Mike Carwile

A friend who owned an Antiques Shop named Bob Jean had some Carnival Glass his mother left him and I never really cared for it at that time until he told me that the pieces with an "N" on the bottom were valuable. There was an upcoming auction a few weeks later that has some Carnival Glass listed so I went and there was only 1 piece signed with the "N" on the bottom, so I bought it.

Then I finally found a book by Bill Edwards and it wasn't in there anywhere, so I call Collector Books and got Bill's phone number and called him. He said to send him a picture and he'd get back with me, which he did, and told me it was Northwood's "Stippled Mums" and he had needed a good photo of that pattern. That's what started me off with Bill.

I kept flooding him with pictures and spent countless hours in various books I had bought and started to help him research as well as providing him with photos of patterns he didn't have in his books. This lasted several years and I was up to speed in no time with the huge amount of time I'd put in.

Then, Bill decided he wanted to retire and asked if I'd like to take over. I told him, "Yes" but that we should be co-authors for a while until I got used to working with the Publisher, Editors and Graphics Departments.

He began to get the "fire in his belly" again and we went on to do many Pressed Glass and Opalescent Glass books as well as other specialty books until he finally call it quits and handed it over to me.

So my friend Bob Jean caused me to buy my first piece, which I still have, but I can say that Bill Edwards was a true mentor during our nearly 20 years of phone calls, letters, and such. It was a great relationship and we had some good times while it lasted.

~ Mike Carwile