Household items shaped like cottages, pubs, houses, shops, other dwellings, and historic buildings are called cottage ware in this book. Here is a delightful study of building-shaped jugs, cookie jars, mugs, condiment sets, and breakfast dishes as well as those made for special, old-fashioned uses as night lights, pastille burners, spills, and crime cottages (sites of famous English crimes). More than a hundred color and black and white photographs feature over 350 different cottage ware items. They are alphabetically grouped by their makers, including English, American, and German potteries, and their markings are shown for easy identification. Current values appear in the descriptive captions. Collectors love these charming dishes because tea served from a cottage-shaped teapot brings a smile, even on the dreariest days.
Eileen Rose Busby, a writer and antiques dealer who taught an antiques and collectibles course at a San Diego, California community college, fell in love with Chintz while living in Suffolk, England. She and her husband Richard had purchased a 16th-century thatched roof cottage on the English countryside that was furnished, including with some pieces of Chintz.
While living there for a decade, they attended English antiques shows and frequented flea markets, searching for more pieces. During her travels, she has done extensive research on English pottery, ceramics, chintz and RoyalWinton. She also has attended chintz shows all over the United States. After they returned to the states, Busby and her late husband led antiques tours to England until 2000 -- to the Newark Antiques Faire, Ardingly, Shepton-Mallet Internat'l Antiques Faire and others -- in search of Chintz and Cottage Ware. A bonus to "Royal Winton Chintz and Pastel Ware" is that Busby, a recognized historian when it comes to Royal Winton, includes interviews with people who once lived in the potteries and whose parents helped design and name early patterns.
Busby has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles on the subject. Also, she has been featured in the Antiques Roadshow Insider. "Royal Winton Chintz and Pastel Ware" covers Grimwade/Royal Winton patterns and pieces starting from the 19th Century to today. More than 300 color photos are pictured along with descriptions, shapes and today's updated prices. Busby has created a classic work -- the most comprehensive on Royal Winton -- that includes rare and hard-to-find patterns and pieces. Other books by Busby include the top-selling "Royal Winton Porcelain: Ceramics Fit For A King" and the critically acclaimed "Cottage Ware: Ceramic Tableware Shaped as Buildings 1920s-1990s." Also, she and her daughter Cordelia Mendoza, who owns an antique store, co-authored "Decorating With Chintz," due out in 2011.
