Books by Title

Jugs

Before the days of modern packaging the only vessel available for fetching, storing or serving liquids was the simple jug. Jugs were the staple product of many pottery firms and, since most households would need several, the potential market was vast and there was great competition among the manufacturers. Decorative jugs sold best and, despite the fact that jugs were utilitarian, a vast number of attractive designs emerged. Although jugs from the eighteenth century are scarce, those from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have survived in large numbers and can fill many a collection. This book reveals the many and varied techniques of decorating jugs throughout the ages, including one chapter on transfer printing. An ideal introduction to the history and design of jugs.

Shire Publications (2009), paperback, ISBN: 9780747807346, £5.99 / $12.95

www.shirebooks.co.uk or www.amazon.com

Liverpool Porcelain

Liverpool Porcelain 1756-1804 has 15 information-packed chapters covering all the 18th century Liverpool porcelain factories. The history of each factory is clearly set out, including who operated them and their periods of production. The wares of each factory are described and compre-hensively illustrated in a vast array of color photographs. Many of the pieces have never been illustrated before. The ways in which the porcelain of each factory can be identified are explained. The book includes 570 pages and 1,300 illustrations and is printed with hardback covers.

An important chapter illustrates and discusses over 120 underglaze blue printed patterns and another is devoted to overglaze printing on Liverpool porcelain by John Sadler and others. Dated pieces are discussed, as is the marketing of Liverpool porcelain and its export to America. There is a foreword by Geoffrey Godden.

Maurice Hillis is an independent researcher on ceramic history. His ceramic interests are extremely varied and he has published widely on 18th and 19th century pottery and porcelain. He has also lectured extensively on ceramics, in both Britain and North America. In 2001 he was elected Chairman of The Northern Ceramic Society, the largest society in Britain devoted to the study of pottery and porcelain and its history.

For a number of years, Maurice and his wife Lyn have organized two annual ceramic seminars for the NCS--a Winter Weekend at Manchester University in January and a Summer School at the University of Chester in August. Ceramic enthusiasts from around the world attend these events.

Liverpool porcelain is one of his particular interests. He has been researching this book for over thirty years and is the acknowledged authority on this difficult subject.

---Text modified slightly from the website "The Liverpool Porcelain Book."

Manufacturing Processes of Tableware during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Lavishly illustrated, full colour, 186 page book. It displays the vast experience and knowledge the author has of the manufacturing processes of bone china and earthenware tableware, mainly as carried out in the Spode works; these were typical of the methods used throughout the pottery industry and should be of interest to all people involved with pottery and porcelain, whether as collectors, customers or dealers.

To order Robert Copeland’s new book, send a PayPal payment in British Pounds of £35 (price includes £25 for the book plus £10 for international shipping and handling abroad) to:  publications@northernceramicsociety.org . 
Be sure to state on the PayPal form that payment is for the Copeland book and to include your shipping address.
British residents may order the book on the Northern Ceramic Society web site: Use this link.
Please note less than 500 copies are available.

Miles Mason Patterns & Shapes

This is a 160 page, B5 size, full color monograph featuring studies of all known numbered and unnumbered patterns. Club research on body, shapes, gilding, numbering and identification is included. Over 1000 illustrations. Exclusively available from: Alan D White, Secretary, Mason’s Collectors’ Club, Lenborough House, Hillesden Rd, Gawcott, Buckingham, Bucks. MK18 4JF. UK.

People & Pots

Terry Lockett, the founder Chairman and a former President of the Northern Ceramic Society, is a freelance lecturer and writer who gave many talks over the past 40 or more years that involved a good deal of research, but were given just once and never recorded. This book is a compilation of material that reveals much about Terry’s life and also the societies and institutions with which he has been associated in the past 50 years.

Ordering Information:
Sole Distributor is Reference Works Ltd. Price: 19.90 GBP plus shipping; Email: sales@referenceworks.co.uk

Pickle Dishes & Milseys

In this excellent 204-page publication, Richard Halliday documents the outstanding and one-of-a-kind collection of the late Robin Greeves and provides an interesting social and historical perspective for these two often misunderstood forms of transfer-printed Staffordshire pottery. Richard's study includes a discussion of the role of "pickles" on 18th and 19th century English tables, a review of how pickle dishes and milseys were used, and a comprehensive and well-organized catalog of patterns and shapes. This book is the result of a research grant from the Transferware Collectors Club. Following the completion of Mr. Halliday's exhaustive work to catalog and research the collection, it was sold in lots at auction. The project includes literally hundreds of quality images of these two unusual forms which are skillfully organized by shapes and patterns. This is a book you will surely want to add to your library.

Pottery Recipes Book by Staffordshire Potter Thomas Lakin

SECTION I. Receipts for superior and common Bodies of Porcelain, Earthenware, vitrious and porous Bodies, with various coloured Drabs

SECTION II. Receipts for superior and common Glases of Poreelain, Iron Stone, Earthenware, and varioua coloured Drabs 

SECTION Ill. Receipts for Enamel Colours, and Colours under Glase, burnished  Gold, and Lustres ; printed Blue, Brown, and Mulberry, with various Fluxes, Solutions, and Oxides

SECTION IV. Receipts for preparing Zaffre and Cobalt Blue, with the Processes of Smelting, Refining, and Calcining

SECTION V. Introduction to Painting and Staining GIass

Receipts for Stains and Enamel Colours for Painting Glass, with the Process of Etching and Coating Glass

Queensware Direct from the Potteries U. S. Importers of Staffordshire Ceramics In Antebellum America: 1820 - 1860

This 2015 Revised and Expanded Edition, written by an archaeologist, concerns the use of underglaze U. S. importers marks on Staffordshire pottery made during the American Antebellum Period (1820-1860). Over 100 such importers are listed in this directory, which geographically spans the entire country, from Massachusetts to California and from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast. Placing the name of American importers of Staffordshire earthenware in under glaze transfer print demonstrated to the buying public that these local merchants had special ties to the English manufacturers which, it was thought, would enhance the chances of the importers not only obtaining the latest fashions promptly but also comparatively cheaply. This strategy was successful decade after decade, until new technology and inexpensive rail transportation in the late 19th century allowed industrial potteries in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States to capture the ceramic tableware market from their British rivals.
Since the importer data base presented in the book owes so much to the generosity of many researchers, it is fitting that it be made available as an Internet Publication which can be used by the widest audience of interested scholars. This format also allows the revision of the data base as new information becomes available (and it surely will). It also allowed the use of large numbers of color illustrations of Staffordshire vessels with importers backmarks. This 330 page book is the most detailed study yet written concerning pre-Civil War American importers of Staffordshire pottery and their British trading partners.

This well-illustrated, and detailed book should serve as a baseline study for future research into this most ubiquitous of artifacts found on early to mid-nineteenth century American archaeological sites – fragments of Staffordshire table and tea wares.

Request for Help with Importers Study
The author writes "I am in the process of revising the recently published ebook, Queensware Direct from the Potteries: U. S. Importers of Staffordshire Ceramics in Antebellum America, 1820 – 1860. I have a few more importer’s marks to add to the Directory, some updates, etc. I would greatly appreciate any help that TCC members can provide in my effort to make this research tool as complete and useful as possible." Email John Walthall.

Rathbone, China and Earthenware Manufacturers, Tunstall, Staffordshire 1808 to 1843

This second edition is A4 in size, hard back with dust jacket, 237 pages and some 900 high quality images.  It commences with the history of the Rathbone brothers and their potteries in Staffordshire and Portobello in Scotland and records all the Staffordshire partnerships with descriptions of the pottery that they built and extended.

Many marks are recorded and illustrated.  Each shape of tea ware has its own image and a pattern number range to help identification, then followed by an image of each pattern, most with the identified pattern number, some without.  Prints and Broseley have separate chapters.  Dessert ware and spill vases emanate from tea ware patterns.  Mugs and jugs have the same shape and pattern treatment as tea ware and include those decorated with sprigs, commemoratives and named and dated.  Both tea ware and mugs and jugs have been seen in US collections and publications.

Unusually, there are chapters connecting Rathbone to other contemporary potters, by continued use of moulds and with identical patterns, illustrated with images.  Finally, there are cross references to the Berthoud book images describing teapots, creamers and cups, either to agree or correct attributions, and images to compare with similar ware from other potteries.

Collector price £50  Airmail postage only £15  Credit card or Paypal
Contact Ian Harvey, 27 Landford Road, Putney, London SW15 1AQ
Email mailto: iph@harvey27.co.uk  Phone 0044 20 8789 7358 

Read Forward	Read Table of Contents	Read NCS Newsletter Review	Download order form

Spode & Copeland: Over Two Hundred Years of Fine China and Porcelain

Over 440 vivid color images display the wide range of ceramics produced by the English pottery firm, established by Josiah Spode in the 1760s and continuing today. From historic blue and white transfer printed wares of the early 1800s to popular dinnerware patterns of the 1900s, this book includes sprig decorated wares, delicate bone china table and tea sets, graceful figurines, and sturdy stoneware candlesticks and loving cups.

Spode Greek

Spode Greek is a one hundred and seventy page soft-back publication by Nicholas Moore. It will serve as an invaluable reference work for Greek pattern collectors, historians and transferware enthusiasts alike. The author has been collecting Spode transfer printed pottery for over thirty years and during that period, developed a major interest in Spode’s Greek patterns. The past eight years has seen Nicholas research every aspect, including historical contexts, of this extremely striking pattern. The book is fully illustrated with over two hundred and fifty full-colour illustrations along with nearly fifty black and white source print images. Not only does the book cover the whole pottery side of the Greek pattern, it also majors on the diverse and rich history behind these patterns which goes back nearly 2500 years. The book is laid out in a very careful way that shows each pattern alongside the relevant source material and/or any corresponding elements from the Spode manufacturing process. There is also a section that depicts some of the diverse shapes that Spode produced which were decorated with the Greek pattern. In addition to illustrations of the pottery, the work also affords the reader the rare opportunity to see the original copper plates from the Spode Museum Trust. This one hundred and seventy page book will inform and thrill in equal quantities and will reaffirm the delight that is collecting blue and white transferware. 

Postage cost in the UK - £4.50, Rest of the World - £9.50

Condition: Brand New
Size: 9.75" x 7.5"
Price:£35.00 

Spode Transfer Printed Ware 1784-1833

Spode Transfer Printed Ware, first published in 1983, has now been extensively enlarged and revised, listing and illustrating every known transfer print issued by the Spode family at their Works in Stoke-on-Trent. More than 100 additional prints have been discovered since 1983.

Staffordshire Blue: Underglaze Blue Transfer-Printed Earthenware

Ny: Crown Pub Inc, 1969 Dust jacket good, rubbing to edges. Blue cloth with gilt lettering, good, corners & spine lightly bumped. Includes 129 black & white pictures & 108 marks. light foxing. Cloth. Good/Good. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Seller Inventory # 5027

Staffordshire Potteries' Directory For 1868.

Preface: An authentic, technical Directory of the Staffordshire Potteries has long been felt as a necessity to do justice to its requirements. This, the first edition, is therefore submitted to the trade, and the usefulness of its aim and objects being seen, we feel assured of being able, on a future occasion, to supply such deficiencies as may be found in the present issue...

Download pdf.

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world’s books discoverable online.

Staffordshire Potters 1781-1900

This is the most comprehensive list of Staffordshire potters ever published and includes much information unavailable in existing literature. This area produced some ninety percent of the pots made in England and is of prime importance in the study of British ceramics. The list has been assembled by extracting the data contained in directories published in the period, covering more than 10,000 entries from some sixty-one volumes. The book itself consists of introductory chapters covering historical aspects of the survey, a fascinating evaluation of the area under review and the directory of authors and publishers, followed by two major chapters - the assembled alphabetical list of over 3,000 potters and listings of all the original directory entries in date order. The work covers all potters, regardless of their products, working between 1781, the date of the earliest surviving directory, and the beginning of the twentieth century, by far the most popular period for collectors. Another standard reference work for anyone interested in British pottery and porcelain.

ISBN: 9781851493708 Antique Collectors' Club (2002), hardback, ISBN 9781851493708, £45.00 / $89.50

Staffordshire Romantic Transferware Patterns

Staffordshire- vol. 1- has 536 patterns, Staffordshire- vol. 2- has 394 patterns, and Staffordshire- vol.-3 has 130 patterns (1060 patterns total). Serious collectors should have all three volumes to get the full benefit of Petra Williams knowledge and great research of transferware. Out of print, but copies commonly available on eBay, Amazon, and specialty used book sellers.

Success to America: Creamware for the American Market

with essays by Wendell D. Garrett and Robin Emmerson.

Life in the early days of the young republic was still very much tied to England and its resources. All those who could afford to do so ordered their creamware sets of dishes and goods from English potters, who were only too happy to produce and decorate the requested images that memorialized Revolutionary War heroes, newly elected presidents, maritime merchants, and patriotic sentiments. One of the largest collection of such creamware items was amassed by the late S. Robert Teitelman. This publication highlights 50 of the pieces in the S. Robert Teitelman Collection at Winterthur as well as an additional 25 pieces and decorative arts objects from Winterthur collection. Enhanced by essays that address life in the young republic, the Liverpool pottery industry, and the Atlantic maritime trade, the volume features some of the finest examples of the period.
hardcover, 304 pages; 750 color illustrations

Swansea Commemorative Pottery

Politics  Reform  Royalty  Wars
The focus of the book is on a relatively small group of wares produced at the Swansea potteries in South Wales, generally classed as ‘commemoratives’, sometimes documentary, certainly historical. The aim has been to discover and record the primary source materials from which the engravers and artists at Swansea worked. Ceramic manufacturers depended on London print shops to provide the sources from which the engravers could derive inspiration and subsequently copy; many of the Swansea designs can be traced to contemporary prints published at that time.

There are 24 chapters with over 200 coloured illustrations.

 The subjects under review follow a consecutive path beginning with Admiral Rodney’s involvement in the American War of Independence  in 1781 and progress through the military and naval events of the Napoleonic wars with France including chapters on Nelson, Wellington, The Duke of York and  Napoleon Bonaparte. Political issues such as the Reform Act of 1832 are discussed and the lives of the social reformers Daniel O’Connell, Father Mathew, Rev. John Wesley and others, men who promoted causes aimed at improving living conditions and laws relating to the working classes, were also celebrated. Royal subjects including Queen Victoria and Royal Albert are also illustrated. Throughout the book the transfers on pottery are compared with the original primary source print or engraving.

 Examples are taken from both commercial potteries at Swansea and reflect the maker’s vision of some snapshots of history as seen through the eyes of the pottery workers.

How to Order
Price UK £38
Price to TCC members £30
Postage determined when order is placed
Pay via paypal.me/Helen Hallesy

Email: h.hallesy@sky.com

Swansea Pottery Collectors' Exhibition 2006

This is an essential reference guide to all collectors of Swansea pottery. A hardback book, limited edition of 300 copies

The exhibition, held at Swansea Museum during the summer of 2006, displayed pottery sourced from private collectors, both transfer wares and hand painted items; many pieces are catalogued and illustrated here for the first time with over 350 items shown as themes: Breakfast wares, tea wares, dinner & dessert wares, toilet wares, children’s wares, maritime, commemorative and those documentary, specially designed pieces.

Those who missed the exhibition will find the book an excellent substitute, as each piece is beautifully catalogued and illustrated.

This book is out of print but may be available used.

Swansea Pottery Transferware from 1811 to its closure in 1870

This book is an overview of the middle and later periods of the Cambrian Pottery transferware production. It attempts to provide an understanding of the difficulties involved in precisely attributing patterns to the different periods of production especially as some patterns were used over long periods of time. We provide pattern lists for each period. The 48 full colour images are to an extent patterns we have not previously illustrated.

Swansea's Cambrian Pottery Public & Private Commemorative Printed Wares

This is the first book to deal solely with the public and private commemorative pieces from the Swansea Cambrian Pottery. It shows also how these pieces relate to other known Swansea patterns and borders.

Published in 2013, the book has 29 pages and features 99 colour illustrations. It measures 8 1/2 by 11 inches.

A pdf of the book content can be downloaded here free of charge.

The softcover version of the book can be purchased at a price of £15.00. See www.lulu.com for purchase.

Swansea's Cambrian Pottery Transferware

The book was published in 2005 and was the first book to deal solely with the transfer printed ware of the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea (known as the Swansea Pottery).

A 225-page volume, the book includes a wealth of information: 90 patterns including Chinoiserie, Rural, Transitional, Sheet, Commemoratives and later patterns, 310 colour illustrations, sections on the potters' working and living conditions, Swansea Pottery employee census records, the first checklist ever produced of 349 known patterns from ALL Welsh Potteries, a well-illustrated marks section, an alphabetical index and an extensive bibliography.

Purchase information £26.00 + £5.00 p&p. For further info, please contact arleenandgrahametanner@btinternet.com

Swansea's Cambrian Pottery Transferware II Patterns and Borders

This book has 220 pages with over 90 patterns and 420 color illustrations including Chinoiserie, Rural, Commemorative, Transitional, Sheet and previously unattributed. The “Table of Contents” titled PATTERNS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE makes the book easy to use as a reference. Also helpful are the Alphabetical List of patterns and the Alphabetical Index to Patterns with Relevant Marks (with a selection from Book 1).

Ordering Information:
Price: 28 GBP plus shipping.
arleenandgrahametanner@btinternet.com

The ABC's of ABC Ware

This delightful book examines the graphics found on all kinds of children's alphabet ware, along with fascinating histories of the firms that produced it. Primarily made in nineteenth century Britain, America, and Germany, these ceramic plates, metal table and flatware, glass dishes, and mugs are considered a reflection of the technologies, values, and styles of the Victorian era. Alphabetically arranged, the twenty-six lettered chapters each tell part of the story: A begins the tale with a bit of American history, B tells of the early bonfires and nineteenth century bottle ovens, C discusses commercialism, D displays deep dishes, E reviews the role of the ware in educating the young and so on, all the way to Z. The extensively researched text is accompanied by over 1000 stunning photographs of these historic pieces, with detailed captions providing measurements, information on manufacturers and marks, circa dates, and current values. A must for every enthusiast's library, this unique and comprehensive text guides readers through every aspect of collecting alphabet ware. -- description from Amazon.com

The Adams Lancaster Tankard: A collector's guide

This book is intended as an illustrated guide to the little-known Lancaster Tankard produced by the William Adams potteries over a period of some 100 years. It will give intending collectors and dealers the information they need about the patterns used on the tankard, together with a rarity and pricing structure not currently available anywhere else.The book is grounded on market experience over many years, backed up by research into the original Adams archives held at the V&A Wedgwood Collection at Barlaston in Staffordshire.

Mr Jon Adkin  (Photographer)

The Blue China Book

Early American Scenes and History Pictured in the Pottery of the Time. With a Supplementary Chapter describing the celebrated Collection of Presidential China in the White House at Washington, D.C., and a complete Checking List of known Examples of Anglo-American Pottery.

The Cambrian Company: Swansea Pottery in London 1806-1808

In 1808, James Christie II was employed to sell the remaining stock of the Cambrian Company, the London Warehouse of the Swansea Pottery located at 64 Fleet Street. The auction sales, between February and April 1808, comprised around 14,000 pieces in over 1,000 lots, similar in scale to the Wedgwood & Bentley disposals in 1781. Much of the finest pottery made in Swansea was included in these 1808 sales - pieces decorated with Nelson, the Welsh Bard, Birds and Butterflies etc. However, letters in Philadelphia prove that the Warehouse, established just eighteen months before in the middle of 1806, was opened to showcase Lewis Weston Dillwyn's lustre. Despite the clear artistic success, the auction sales point to a commercial failure. Notwithstanding Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in 1805, the global economy remained depressed, with trade disrupted given the actions of the British, French and Americans, culminating in Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807.

Continuing the tradition for works on Welsh ceramics, this book is available in two bindings. The general edition is hard backed and limited to 750 copies.

In addition, there is a deluxe edition fully bound in leather with a slip case. This is limited to 64 numbered and signed copies.

Both editions are slightly smaller in height than standard A4 and over 375 pages in length. The book is profusely illustrated - there are over 250 separate illustrations, generally in full colour.

If any member wants a copy they can email Jonathan Gray at jdgray@talk21.com

The Charm of English Pink, Vol 1, The Pots

This is an in-depth exploration of a portion of the many, many pots as well as the individual patterns produced in pink. Over 300 unique patterns are illustrated and historically explored in detail, including a glimpse at English transferware’s mysteries − both solved and unsolved. 414 pages, 9 by 12 inches, Perfect binding $65.00

Order all three or individual "Pink" books directly from Margie Williams. $7 shipping for non-Transferware members, free for Transferware members. (Learn about membership.) Send your check and order to: Margie Williams, 1835 Oak Terrace, Newcastle, CA 95658 OR order directly from Amazon. Or contact Margie via email: mjhrww@gmail.com

The Diaz collection: Material Culture and Social Change in Mid-Nineteenth-Century Monterey (California).

This report, prepared by the Cultural Resource Management Unit of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, describes archaeological excavations and studies of the 1820s Cooper-Molera Adobe. It includes a healthy dose of transferware. Available as a PDF download. Download here.

The Dictionary of Blue & White Printed Pottery 1780-1880 (Volume 1)

This dictionary brings together as many facts as possible about blue and white printed pottery at the height of its popularity and production. The authors have produced a comprehensive guide, covering every possible aspect of the subject, with Appendices which include makers' initial marks and a list of source books used by makers. The discovery that prints could be transferred to porcelain and pottery helped transform the ceramics industry. Inevitably, the market demand at the end of the nineteenth century for brightly coloured wares put an end to this extraordinary potting endeavour but the interest of collectors has never declined. This book was awarded the Library Association's 1982 McColvin Medal for an outstanding reference book. It is the first of a two volume set, having been supplemented in 1989 by a separate companion volume containing additional entries and further information. Although first published in 1982, it has remained in print ever since and is still the standard reference work.

The Dictionary of Blue & White Printed Pottery 1780-1880 (Volume 2)

Designed as a comprehensively cross-referenced companion to the original Dictionary, this second volume includes over 1,000 new or extended entries. These cover many previously unrecorded patterns, recent attributions, newly discovered design sources and a significant number of additional manufacturers and retailers. Some of the more interesting wares after the original deadline of 1880 have also been included. The social history behind the potters' choice of subject is of considerable interest and, wherever possible, entries include details of the people or events which inspired unidentified patterns or their titles. One new feature is an Appendix illustrating unidentified patterns, important marked examples of which may yet be unearthed by a diligent collector. Again a standard reference work.

The Herculaneum Pottery: Liverpool's Forgotten Glory

The emergence of Herculaneum pottery in early nineteenth-century Liverpool marked a pivotal moment in the clay arts. This book provides a comprehensive history of Herculaneum pottery—highly sought after in North America—and its rapid rise to international prominence.