Blue and White Transfer-Printed Pottery (Shire Library) [Paperback]

Robert Copeland (Author)

Book Description

Series: Shire Library | Publication Date: March 4, 2008

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. European potters tried to emulate this fine tableware, most successfully on artificial portcelain and tin-glazed earthenwares. The imports from China decline 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-printing from engraved copper plates. Spode perfected this process, and his wares have never been surpassed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Like other Shire books in my collection, this is a wonderful little volume packed with a great many pictures and tons of information.  I’ve used these books time and again in my research—sometimes for facts, sometimes for inspiration.  This one offers plenty of both, starting with a Glossary and History and going on to detailed photos of the manufacturing process, and proceeding to discussions of the patterns and colors (including a chart of the tones of blue)." -Loretta Chase, Two Nerdy History Girls (March 2010)

About the Author

Robert Copeland, son of Gresham Copeland, partner in the family-owned Spode factory in Stoke on Trent, joined the firm in 1943. He inherited his father's collection of blue and white Spode, expanded it and has researched into the origin of the patterns. He was historical consultant to Spode Limited until his retirement.

Product Details

• Paperback: 40 pages
• Publisher: Shire; 2nd edition (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747804494
• ISBN-13: 978-0747804499
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.2 x 8.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,140,022 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissapointed, March 3, 2009

By 

J. Windham "Book and Movie Lover" (Grand Cane, La USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Blue and White Transfer-Printed Pottery (Shire Library) (Paperback)

I was dissapointed in this book. I bought it hoping for a good guide to identifying tranferware patterns. It has a lot of history, a large section on how the transfers and copper plates were created - this took up about 1/2 the book. The second half of the book had some more history about the different manufacturers, and some history about how the patterns and tastes changed over the years. There were actually very few examples of the different patterns - maybe about 40 different designs were listed, which is not a lot considering how many hundreds of different designs were produced during that time. No prices or values.

This book is good for the history and background. But not for identification.