[Rarebooks] fs: Just Catalogued- 1870 Rouen Faience

[Joslin Hall Rare Books]

 From our "Just Catalogued" pages->
<http://www.joslinhall.com/justcat.htm>

Pottier, Andre. HISTOIRE DE LA FAIENCE DE ROUEN. Rouen; Auguste le Brument: 
1870.

Solon notes-

"Few are the ceramic monographs which may rank on par with Pottier's 
'History of the Rouen Faience'; it has never been excelled, perhaps never 
been equaled, by any other work of the same order. A masterly treatment, on 
the part of the historian, has rendered full justice to an important 
chapter of the ceramic history".

Andre Pottier was the librarian of Rouen, which gave him the opportunity to 
research the history of his city in great depth, and as the grandson of a 
noted faience manufacturer, he gravitated toward the history of the city's 
potters. Solon continues-

"While the finest productions of the departed [ceramic] art were 
disregarded by all, he was able to form of them a considerable and selected 
collection, such as it would have been impossible to form in after times. 
As to the knowledge that Pottier had managed to acquire, through his 
unremitting researches, of the conditions under which the manufacturer of 
painted faience was carried on two hundred years before, one might question 
whether any of the masters of the best period had ever been so thoroughly 
acquainted with the subject. His thoughts were constantly busy with the 
preparation of the book that was to be the 'magnum opus' of his life. Never 
satisfied with the documents he had already accumulated, he went on 
gathering and sifting fresh crops of materials towards the completion of 
his work.

"When death surprised him, he was still uncertain whether the task he had 
undertaken could be said to be at an end. In fact, were it not for the 
devotion that his friends bore to his memory, his disordered mss. would 
have remained unpublished and we should have been deprived of a monograph 
that no one else could have written with such commanding authority. ... 
Pottier's own collection -which became the nucleus of the Rouen Ceramic 
Museum- illustrated nearly all the periods of manufacture. Nevertheless, 
far from confining his selection of representative examples to the objects 
in his possession, he preferred to give us the cream of the numerous 
collections that were placed at his disposal. His talented daughter was to 
him an invaluable collaborator; she reproduced in water colour all the more 
remarkable examples, as they passed through their hands, and it was her 
portfolio which supplied the excellent illustrations of the book".

Hardcover. 10"x12.5", xii + 420 + [iv] pages, plus 60 colored plates; line 
figures in the text; ex-Boston Museum of Fine Arts library with several 
small stamps, a bookplate, a perforation on the title page and a small 
discoloration on the spine where a label was removed; bound in a 
magnificent custom binding, full parchment with hand-lettered titles and 
decorations- a small coat of arms on the front cover, a floral emblem on 
the spine and a polychromed jug on the rear cover. Binding with some soil, 
several very small punctures on the spine; contents with a little soil a 
little wear overall, but a very nice, beautifully bound copy. [08055] 
$1,200.00

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There are over 100 other newly catalogued books on ceramics, glass, silver, 
art, and other related subjects on our "Just Catalogued" pages->
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