Staffordshire Romantic Transfer Patterns: Cup Plates and Early Victorian China

This is a beautifully written and extremely helpful book for anyone interested in English Transferware. The illustrations are not in color and they are pale. But it is a wonderful book. It is the only book I've found which discusses the lush and beautiful borders on china plates in detail, providing -- with the illustrations -- a vocabulary for describing the various intriguing elements that make up the countless exquisite borders. Many other books don't even mention the borders on transfer ware plates, though the borders are as lovely and as fascinating as the central pictures on the plates. I would so love to see an update of this book with all the illustrations in color. But that may never happen. Meanwhile, it is well worth studying. I've ordered volume II and I am searching for volume III. My deepest thanks to the author for the great care taken in this book. (Maybe some day a devoted collector will provide a study of borders on English china of this period).

I don't know how I have missed owning this book. It is incredible. Wish it was all in color though.

Hardcover (1987 [1978]), Petra Williams with Marguerite R. Weber. 763 pages, nearly each page providing detailed pattern description and date of manufacture of 19th century English tableware ceramics, accompanied with one or two monochromatic illustrations. A recognized must-have resource for the serious and avid collector.

This is a big book -- 763 pp! Sewn binding. Hardcover with pictorial boards, issued without dustjacket. TABLE OF CONTENTS Floral Category Classic Category Oriental Category Scenic Category Genre Category Juvenile Category Polychrome Chinoiserie Category Miscellaneous Category Unascribed Category A Selection of Backstamps Bibliography Glossary Index