Wedgwood

I bought this edition when it came out and I still refer to it. There is one truly magnificent section; drawings from the pattern book. These ilustrations are so useful I would consider them alone to be worth the cost of the book. Having this book open alongside Towner on Creamware was a revelation. The supremacy in the field of creamware shared by Leeds and Wedgwood is still appreciated but it is great to have some early sources to compare. All the Wedgwood wares are represented in this book; mercifully not top heavy with the ubiquitous blue jasper. Dry bodies, caneware, basalt and bone china are all fully covered. A poignant footnote on the two hunredth anniversary of the repeal of slavery is an illustration of the jasper pendant of the slave in manacles and the legend "Am I Not a Man and a Brother Too", surely one of the best indications that perhaps Wedgwood was witness or midwife to the Age of Enlightenment. A good first book on the study of Wedgwood.