Architectural Ceramics £4.50

Hans van Lemmen

978 0 7478 0517 5 (Album 395) 40 pp, 79 colour pics

Architectural ceramics in the form of unglazed terracotta and glazed faience were used to decorate the interiors, façades and roofs of a wide range of buildings in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the first instance their use was functional, making the buildings weatherproof, fireproof and hygienic, but they could also be very decorative. This book charts the history of architectural ceramics, focusing on practical and decorative applications, on architects, designers and manufacturers, and on styles and techniques of production and decoration.

Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject in Britain and elsewhere. He is a founder member and presently chairman of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Bathroom Ceramics £4.50

Munroe Blair

978 0 7478 0513 7 (Album 391) 40 pp, 137 colour pics

This book traces the history of bathrooms over four thousand years and describes the development of ceramic fixtures for washing and bathing. Changing styles of design and decoration are followed through classical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, self-coloured ware, the Victorian revival and into the twenty-first century. This progression is illustrated with colourful catalogue pages, diagrammatic drawings, photographs of historic baths, bidets and washbasins and archive pictures showing production environments of the early twentieth century.

Munroe Blair acquired his knowledge of bathroom ceramics from inside the industry, working with Twyford, Armitage Shanks and English China Clays. Other books for Shire by this author are:

Blue and White Transfer-printed pottery £4.50

Robert Copeland

978 0 7478 0449 9 (Album 97) 40 pp, 43 colour and 46 b/w photographs

Blues made from cobalt were first used widely for painted decoration in China during the fifteenth century. Much of the porcelain imported into Europe was decorated with blue designs, and after about 1650, when tea was introduced, the volume of blue and white 'chinaware' brought back from Canton was enormous. Imports from China declined in the 1780s, and owners of Chinese services found it difficult to obtain replacements or additions. To meet this need, British potters copied the hand-painted patterns using the technique of transfer-printed from engraved copper plates. Spode perfected this process, and his wares have never been surpassed. This book is intended to help all who are interested in blue and white wares, whether collectors or not.

Son of Gresham Copeland (partner in the family-owned Spode factory in Stoke on Trent), Robert Copeland inherited his father's collection of blue and white Spode, expanded it and has researched into the origin of the patterns. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

British Tea and Coffee Cups 1745-1940 £4.50

Steven Goss

978 0 7478 0445 1 (Album 377)40 pp, 58 colour and 46 b/w photographs

Tea and coffee cups are among the most collectable of all ceramics. They have been made in Britain since the middle of the eighteenth century. The changes in design reflect the advances made in manufacturing process and materials as well as changes in fashions. This book charts the development over two hundred years, providing information on the methods of decoration, influential factories and designers, a guide to dating the many different styles and help with identifying the manufacturers involved.

Steven Goss has been involved in the antiques trade for many years and is specialist consultant to a leading provincial auction house. Other titles for Shire by this author (see below).

British Teapots and Coffee Pots £4.99

Steven Goss

978 0 7478 0634 9 (Album 446) 48 pp, 94 colour ill

From the elegant to the quirky, teapots and coffee pots come in a range of styles and designs and are among the most familiar household items. Both decorative and easily displayed, they are very collectable and can be relatively inexpensive. In this book, Steven Goss charts their development over a period of three hundred years, providing information on the materials used in their manufacture, influential factories and designers, and a guide to dating the many different styles.

* In the eighteenth century a pound of tea could cost more than a week’s wages for a skilled craftsman.
* Early coffee pots often have handles set at a right angle to the spout.

Steven Goss has been involved in the antiques trade for more than twenty-five years as a full-time professional dealer, specialist consultant to a leading provincial auction house, writer and collector. He is an enthusiastic collector of teawares. Other titles for Shire by this author (see above).

British tin-glazed Earthenware £4.50

John Black

978 0 7478 0512 0 (Album 390) 40 pp, 86 colour illustrations

Covering an earthenware object with a glaze containing tin enabled it to be decorated with paints – a technique introduced to Britain from the Netherlands in the sixteenth century. Soon the potters began to imitate Chinese porcelain, then all the rage, and a number of potteries were developed with this is mind. Their output was massive, much of it being exported, and for a long period it was the mainstay of the British ceramic industry. Many eye-catching examples are to be seen in museums and private collections. This book provides an introduction to British tin-glazed earthenware for collectors and others interested in the history of ceramics.

John Black retired in 1989 after an academic career and began to devote himself to the study and repair of ceramics. He soon specialised in tin-glazed eathenware and has lectured widely in this subject.

Ceramic Bygones and other unusual Domestic Pottery £4.50

Robert Copeland

978 0 7478 0453 3 (Album 383) 40 pp, 99 colour and b/w ills.

How would one recognise an argyll, a trembleuse or a bachelor’s set? And how can one identify a pineapple stand, a spoon warmer or a coach pot? Such items were in regular use in daily life in the nineteenth century – and all were made of pottery. In Ceramic Bygones many such intriguing but obsolete items are described and illustrated.

Robert Copeland grew up in the family which had owned the Spode manufactory since 1833. Now retired, he remains a trustee of the Spode Museum Trust. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Ceramic Roofware £4.50

Hans van Lemmen

978 0 7478 0569 4 (Album 420) 40 pp, 80 colour ills.

Brick chimneys, chimney-pots and roof and ridge tiles have been a feature of the roofs of a wide range of buildings since the late Middle Ages. In the first instance this ceramic roofware was functional – to make the roof weatherproof and to provide an outlet for smoke – but it could also be very decorative. The practical and ornamental aspects of ceramic roofware can still be seen throughout Britain. This book charts the history of ceramic roofware from the Middle Ages to the present day, highlighting both practical and decorative applications, and giving information about manufacturers and on the styles and techniques of production and decoration.

Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject in Britain and elsewhere. He is a founder member and presently chairman of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society.

Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Ceramic Water Closets £4.50

Munroe Blair

978 0 7478 0457 4 (Album 379) 40 pp, 65 colour, 34 b/w ills.

Although pottery was made by the earliest civilisations, the sanitary pottery industry has existed for only 150 years. Sanitary pottery has contributed directly towards improving health and helping to combat disease worldwide. Efficient water closets, or WCs, from which waste is washed away to the sewers, are now taken for granted, but in early Victorian homes this was far from the case. This book traces the history and evolution of ceramic water closets through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with emphasis on changing designs, decorative styles and fashions trends, supported by explanatory diagrams and many original illustrations.

Munroe Blair acquired his knowledge of the history of sanitary pottery from inside the industry, working with Twyford, Armitage Shanks and English China Clays. He has lectured and broadcast around the world on the technology, design, marketing and history of ceramic sanitaryware, figurines and clay raw materials. Other books for Shire by this author are:

Ceramics of the 1950s £4.50

Graham McLaren

978 0 7478 0336 2 (Album 363) 40 pp, 35 colour, 42 b/w ills.

British ceramics of the 1950s are highly evocative of a decade of optimism and change in British life. This book considers how pottery manufacturers met the challenge to produce bright, exciting and, above all, modern ceramics, which is again prized today for its innovative and daring design.

Dr Graham McLaren teaches the history of ceramics at Staffordshire University, Stoke on Trent. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Ceramics of the 1960s £4.50

Graham McLaren

978 0 7478 0486 4, (Album 386), 40 pp with 75 colour and 22 black and white illustrations

The 1960s were intense and dynamic years of change for the visual arts in Britain. Ceramic design felt the full force of a revolution seen first in youth culture and fashion design. The British pottery industry moved away from a dependence upon foreign styles and developed instead the ‘British Modern’ style. By the end of the 1960s Britain was regarded as a world leader in design. This book examines how ceramic designers and manufacturers responded to challenges ranging from ‘The Look’ identified by the fashion designer Mary Quant to the Psychedelia of the late 1960s.

Dr Graham McLaren teaches the history of ceramics at Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent. He has written for publications as varied as Crafts Magazine, The Burlington Magazine and The Times. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Church Tiles of the Nineteenth Century £4.50

Kenneth Beaulah and Hans van Lemmen

978 0 7478 0502 1, (Album 184), 40 pp with many colour and black and white illustrations

More than half the churches in Britain are paved at least in part with nineteenth-century decorative encaustic tiles and there are also churches with striking pictorial tile panels. They are often the most notable features of a church, yet they are rarely mentioned in guidebooks. This book describes how they derived from medieval church tiles, how they were made and who designed and manufactured them.

The late Kenneth Beaulah had a life-long interest in decorative tiles, particularly medieval tiles and Victorian encaustic tiles. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a founder member of the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society.

Hans van Lemmen taught for many years at Leeds Metropolitan University. He is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject in Britain and abroad. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Clay Tobacco Pipes £3.50

Eric G. Ayto

978 0 7478 0248 8 (Album 37) 32 pp, 24 b/w ills

Although clay tobacco pipes are still made today their place in history is the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Until about 1890 the clay pipe was as commonplace as the tankard of ale and the mug of tea, but competition from the briar pipe, the cigar and the cigarette brought the clay-pipe industry to an end about 1900. Many people remember using clay pipes for blowing bubbles when they were children, and some can recall seeing navvies, or their grandfathers, smoking them. These old pipes are now being eagerly looked for and picked up by the hundreds, and the enthusiastic finder is confronted with many questions. The aim of this book is to answer these questions and to record the part the humble ‘clay’ once played in our society.

Eric G. Ayto has manufactured clay tobacco pipes as a craft potter since 1972. His interest in the history of clay pipes led him to Eton, where he discovered an almost forgotten pipemaking industry dating from about 1690 to 1914. He is now retired.

Copeland £4.50

Vega Wilkinson

978 0 7478 0462 8 (Album 306) 40 pp, 79 colour and 19 b/w ills

For 133 years five successive generations of the Copeland family continued to run the Spode Pottery at Stoke-on-Trent, carrying on the tradition of quality and design which was begun by Josiah Spode I and his son Josiah Spode II. The work of some of the best-known artists is illustrated in this book, which also provides the reader with backstamps dating the ware and a short description of some of the most famous pieces of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It includes illustrations of Copeland statuary porcelain, jewelled ware, fine china and earthenware and royal commissions, and it concludes with examples of everyday patterns which are easily collected today.

Vega Wilkinson’s interest in Copeland began in the late 1970s as a collector. She has researched in the Spode archives and Copeland family papers and is now working on a dictionary of ceramic artists in Britain.

Other titles by this author are:

Delftware Tiles £4.99

Hans van Lemmen

978 0 7478 0611 0 (Album 179) 48 pp, colour and b/w ills

Italian potters brought the art of making tin-glazed tiles to the Low Countries in the early sixteenth century. Native potters copied the technique and in the seventeenth century they began to manufacture the distinctive blue and white Dutch tiles. Because the best tiles and other tin-glazed pottery came from Delft, the name of that town became associated with this ware. This book traces the history of delftware tiles, describes how they were made and explains the differences between Dutch and English delftware tiles.

Hans van Lemmen was born and educated in the Netherlands before moving to Britain. He is an established author on the history of tiles and architectural ceramics and is presently chairman of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Goss and Souvenir Heraldic China £5.99 £2.99 *special price until 31.1.08

Lynda Pine

978 0 7478 0623 3 (Album 440) about 56 pp, colour and b/w ills

A vast range of souvenir china was produced from the 1880s up to the 1930s to cater for what was then a new market of working-class holidaymakers who had begun to flock to the seaside from the industrial towns. Workers and their families could now travel to places that previously only the rich had enjoyed and they wanted distinctive souvenirs to take home as mementoes of their visit or as gifts for friends and relations. The firm of William Henry Goss was the first and most prolific manufacturer of porcelain items, in many shapes and sizes, bearing the name of a specific town or resort and adorned with the place’s coat of arms, but they had many competitors. Although the craze for such souvenirs ended before the Second World War, heraldic souvenir porcelain has become a popular field for collectors. In this book, Lynda Pine describes how souvenir heraldic china developed over the years and illustrates many examples.

Lynda Pine runs the Goss and Crested China Club, based in Horndean, Hampshire.

Medieval Tiles £4.50

Hans van Lemmen

978 0 7478 0463 5 (Album 380) 40 pp, 72 colour and 10 b/w ills.

During the Middle Ages decorative floor tiles were used in abbey churches, royal palaces, parish churches and the homes of wealthy citizens. Tiles were durable and hygienic and added a new decorative element to the interior. Many medieval tiles disappeared during nineteenth-century restorations but the designs lived on in the copies made by Victorian tile manufacturers. Throughout Britain, tiles can still be seen in situ on the sites of former abbeys as well as in medieval cathedrals and parish churches, and the British Museum has an extensive and important collection.

Hans van Lemmen is an established author on the history of tiles and has lectured on the subject. He is a founder member and presently chairman of the British Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society. Other titles for Shire by this author are:

Parian Ware £2.95

Dennis Barker

978 0 85263 737 1 (Album 142) 32 pp, 51 ills.

Parian is a porcelain of smooth surface, usually matt and almost always ivory in colour. Surviving pieces are mostly figures, busts or intricate groups of figures and animals. Vases, jugs, medallions, spill holders and sundry ornaments were also made and can still be found, though most were probably thrown away. Parian originated in Britain and most of it was made there.

Dennis Barker started collecting Parian ware in the 1960s. He has researched Parian in company records, street markets and museums in the Potteries and in the USA.

The Potteries £3.50

David Sekers

978 0 85263 564 3 (Album 62) 32 pp, 40 ills.

This book shows how the Potteries became such a remarkable place and illustrates the traditional skills of the potters. It highlights their living and working conditions and occupational health risks.

After 10 years in the family textile firm, David Sekers became Director of the Gladstone Pottery museum in Stoke-on-Trent. He is now director of the National Trust’s Southern Region.

Porcelain Pastille Burners £5.99 £1.99 *special price until 31.1.08

Robert Devereux and Vega Wilkinson

9780 7478 0622 6 (Album 439) about 56 pp, colour and b/w ills

Pastille burners are charming porcelain nineteenth century cottages, varying in architectural design, which held pastilles made by the still room maids. When lit their perfume combated unpleasant odours in Victorian homes. Pastille burners were made in all sizes by many of the well-known porcelain manufacturers but few are marked. However they are an historical record of churches, tollhouses, summerhouses and decorative cottages of the period. The authors researched and examined over one hundred examples of pastille burners from many factories and even made pastilles, using original recipes, which are included in the book. The photographs illustrate the vast range which is collectable today.

Robert Devereux has been a collector of porcelain for over forty years. Vega Wilkinson has been studying the art and history of Copeland pottery and the people who made it since the 1980s and has a keen interest in ceramics. Other titles for Shire by these authors: