The central role of the fireplace in the layout of the domestic environment, its input as decoration, sculpture and expression, are showcased with eloquent illustrations that reveal their features - while no longer indispensable in functional terms - remains a compelling outlet for compositional experimentation, and allows huge margins for creative invention. The fireplace as architecture, as a component of furniture, as sculpture even - and at any rate, an oeuvre - this is the theme dealt with in this book which, filling a gap in the repertoire, goes beyond the technical and instrumental side of the matter covered in other publications. 2010