[Rarebooks] fs: Most Better Books on Ceramics

[Joslin Hall Rare Books, ABAA]

->  CERAMICS WEEK at JOSLIN HALL <-

                 ~~ CONTINUES!!! ~~

Guinness is now being served in the pub; please consume your
beer out there before re-entering the Main Exhibition Hall.

Our newest printed catalog -"Books on Ceramics" is now available.
If you would like a copy please let us know.

We will be featuring ceramics-related material on our blog this week-
<http://foggygates.blogspot.com/>
today's blog is about Josiah Wedgwood's advice to his rioting workers...

and now for today's books, from our new catalog-

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Tinker, Chauncey B. THE WEDGWOOD MEDALLION OF SAMUEL JOHNSON -A STUDY IN 
ICONOGRAPHY. Cambridge; Harvard University Press: 1926. Edition limited to 
385 copies printed by Bruce Rogers. A study of the famous jasperware 
medallion of Samuel Johnson issued in 1784 and probably modeled by Flaxman. 
Tinker sets himself two questions- what sources did Flaxman use as 
inspiration for the portrait, and how was the medallion "missed" by 
subsequent Johnson biographers who set out to catalog all known Johnson 
likenesses? Tinker's quest provides a wealth of intriguing details on the 
processes undertaken at Wedgwood in the preparation of models for their 
portrait medallions, in addition to specific details about probable sources 
for this one. In the midst of all this, Tinker also stumbles upon a very 
rare (and quite ugly) medallion of Johnson which was withdrawn from 
production by Wedgwood in favor of the Flaxman model. Quite an interesting 
Wedgwood tidbit. Hardcover. 8.5"x11.5", 17 pages plus 1 color and 7 b/w 
plates with tissue guards; light cover scuffs, endpapers a little toned, 
etc. [08711] $175.00

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Ricci, Seymour de. CATALOGUE OF A COLLECTION OF MOUNTED PORCELAIN BELONGING 
TO E.M. HODGKINS. Paris; Typographie Philippe Renouard: 1911. Edition 
limited to 200 copies. The elegant, massive, rare catalog of a very unusual 
collection formed by E.M. Hodgkins, the noted art and antique dealer of 
England and Paris. It was the custom in 18th century France for collectors 
to have their finest antique Chinese porcelains mounted in ornate gilt 
bronze mounts. By the end of the 19th century most such specimens had been 
acquired by museums, making this collection of 26 pieces (12 sets) gathered 
by E.M. Hodgkins all the more unusual. de Ricci provides a wealth of 
information on the makers of the bronze mounts, drawing extensively from 
contemporaneous French records (which he quotes but does not translate). 
Information is provided on both the porcelains (mainly celadons) and the 
mounts. Each piece or set is illustrated with both a black and white and a 
luminously colored plate.  A very handsome catalog. As a collector and 
dealer Hodgkins specialized in 18th century French arts; his personal 
collection of drawings and paintings was sold in 1914 and the French 
furnishings from his Paris apartment was sold at auction in 1927. 
Hardcover. 16"x12", 48 pages plus 24 autotype plates, 12 colored and 12 
monochrome. Light cover wear, hinges slightly shaken (as usual), some minor 
internal soil and very minor foxing; one plate hinge partially 
detached.  [08709]  $500.00

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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 very nice.  [08055] $1,200.00

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Owen, Hugh. TWO CENTURIES OF CERAMIC ART IN BRISTOL BEING A HISTORY OF THE 
MANUFACTURE OF "THE TRUE PORCELAIN" BY RICHARD CHAMPION. London; Bell and 
Daldy: 1873. Hugh Owen spent twelve years preparing the material for this 
book, and gained access to some of Richard Champions' notebooks courtesy of 
his descendents. Solon notes that the study "may be praised as being a 
model of what a perfect monograph might be expected to be".  In addition to 
being a history of the Bristol works it is, as Solon points out, much more- 
"What renders Owen's work extremely valuable, even to the foreign 
collector, is the amount of correlative information pertinently introduced 
in the course of the narration. The undertaking of Champion and Cookworthy 
had necessarily brought them in contact with the chief potters, as well as 
with the art patrons, merchants, and manufacturers of the times; out of the 
intercourse the Bristol potters had to keep up with official and private 
personages, springs a long roll of documents and business correspondence, 
most interesting to peruse for the light they throw upon the general 
condition of the British trade and industries during the second half of the 
eighteenth century".

Owen also devotes a half-dozen pages to Bristol glass of the period, and 
includes a nice color plate of an example. Hardcover. 7.5"x10.5", xxiv + 
420 pages with 142 wood engravings in the text; plus 16 full-page wood 
engraved plates, 4 full-page steel-engraved plates, and 1 colored plate. 
Covers rather worn and a bit threadbare, rear hinge cracked and a bit 
wobbly; bookplate removed; minor internal soil.  [08306]  $350.00

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JOSLIN HALL RARE BOOKS, ABAA
Fine books of the 16th-20th centuries
on the decorative and fine arts & design

Post Office Box 239
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060 USA
telephone (413) 247-5080

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