Building a Library

Hi everyone,

What would the forum consider to be the essential reference books that someone new to collecting British and European Studio Pottery should have on her/his shelf?

Greenie

For British studio pottery then you must get an edition of the Yates-Owen, British Studio Pottery Marks book. A new one has just come out but if you can't afford that then get the 2005 edition.

As for European pottery I don't know. There's Mark Hill's Alla Moda book for Bitossi and other Italian pottery, but I rely on websites like FreeFormsUSA.com

I have the studio pottery marks and it is an essential reference book. I also have a mountain of other reference books on ceramics all of them I am pretty certain are out of print (they never make many).

But the only book I can't do without is Victoria Bergesen's Encyclopaedia of British art pottery 1870-1920. If you have an interest in that period of pottery it is the bible (I have put a link below to show you the cover). The reason it's about the only essential book I have now we have the internet is simply because it contains so much information not found any other place including the web. It's not cheap anymore but worth the money.

http://www.abebooks.com/9780712638227/Encyclopaedia-British-Art-Pottery-1870-1920-0712638229/plp

"British Studio Ceramics" by Paul Rice would be a good place to start on British Studio Pottery.

The marks book is a useful tool, but for someone just starting out, it's important to know that while a mark may look or even be the same, it does not mean it's actually by that potter.

I get a little annoyed when people say "It's just like p.176 of Blahdeblahblah by wothisname" as if we all have a large library of reference books.

We don't. I have a few and YOBSP but it's not more than x10.

I've bought several from Abebooks mentioned above but I use
http://www.dealoz.com/ which is an excellent 2nd hand book search.

MD if you get a list out of this thread then please calculate how much even a decent second hand set of the books you list perhaps may cost?


http://www.dealoz.com/prod?gtin=09781408183502&query=british%20studio%20pottery&op=&op2=buy

Many thanks for the suggestions.

We still have a decent public library (although, maybe not for much longer) so I'll try to check these out before I buy.

Greenie

P.S. 22 Crawford St: I promise never to quote a book! ;0)

also a used copy can be bought quite cheaply

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/British-Studio-Potters-Marks-By-Eric-Yates-Owen-Robert-Fournier-/301693316765?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item463e52ae9d

Anyone looking for cheap books in the UK could do worse than start with

www.bookfinder.com  

It searches globally all the listing sites including ABE and Amazon.

The bulk listers (Betterworld, World of Books, Revival, etc) tend to list on all the European Amazon sites and, as their algorithms chase the lowest price, you can often save a lot by buying from the German or French Amazon.  

A couple of examples?  I once bought a book on DG Rossetti from Betterworld on amazon.de, it shipped from Scotland. Listed on Amazon UK at £228 + £2.80 post, the exact same book could be bought for £36 inc post if ordered via Amazon Germany.

I've just bought Victoria Bergesen's Encyclopaedia of British Art Pottery from amazon.fr for £15.47 from World of Books who were listing the same book in the UK at £56.

Have a look . . .  Revival Books (shipping from Lancashire) are offering an ex library copy of Bergesen via the French Amazon site at £15.39; UK Amazon £68.83.

It's a world gone mad but if you understand the lunacy you may sometimes benefit.

Hope all this doesn't infringe any forum protocols - I have no vested interest in any of these companies.

All the best,
Greenie

we prefer that new members play it safe for a while Greenie as we constantly struggle with the balance between non censorship and our zero tolerance stance on advertising

I use Abebooks and Amazon Marketplace

I used to buy via Amazon but since they tried to con me with an Amazon Prime free trial I have blacklisted the whole company

New to collecting "British Studio Pottery" - Ultimate Reference

1) Contemporary Ceramics Auction Catalogues - Lots & lots
2) An entire run of Ceramic Review Magazines - now at No.275
3) Yates/Fournier - Book of Marks - yawn!

Then when your done discard the lot and just buy pottery that you like and can live with!

This is probably a little bit of an unintended feature. But on the Saleroom (auction website) members have the ability to create a wish list of things they have seen and liked. It does not cost anything unless you bid on the auction of course but even after the auction ends you get to see the wish list items and in most cases see what they sold for. It's a great way of keeping track of the market and what things are selling for without paying for that service.

Greenie1689 wrote:I've just bought Victoria Bergesen's Encyclopaedia of British Art Pottery from amazon.fr for £15.47 from World of Books who were listing the same book in the UK at £56.

Have a look . . .  Revival Books (shipping from Lancashire) are offering an ex library copy of Bergesen via the French Amazon site at £15.39; UK Amazon £68.83.

Greenie

If you bought it on my recommendation I hope you love it. If not then I hope you love it anyway. One of my best friends Barry remembers her researching it in the early 1990's she was a slightly mad American woman from what he remembers, always asking questions and picking the brains of people around him for the smallest details. She got access to people who worked at the companies, to the potters themselves, artists and obsessive fans that today would be impossible. Back then it was people themselves or parents that had direct contact with how and when it was made. Today we are one possible two generations further on and much of that information is lost. It's details on marks alone make it essential for me. Let us know what you think.

The Bergesen book is one that I still refer to quite often and I agree that it is a very good book.

I do remember when it came out a number of "experts" suggesting that there were many inaccuracies but over the years I have come to believe that was more a matter of sour grapes than anything else.

POTTERY QUARTERLY
Whilst we are on the subject of reference library material my shout is to do with "Studio Pottery" in particularly the 20th Century period & mainly British. I wondered if any of the forum members or onlookers could shed any light on the publication "Pottery Quarterly" a small A5 sized magazine that started out sometime in the 1950's and was a kind of precursor to Ceramic Review!?! The magazine covers the craft of the potter (and going on the copies I have seen (imo) the non-craft of the bookbinder - lol) with reviews and articles on the subject for the time. What I was wondering is how many volumes were issued and between what dates? I was also wondering if there was any indexing created at the time of publication (like Ismay did with CR) or even after, maybe someone out there knows of such a thing or a website with information?? - advanced thanking's for any help.

POTTERY QUARTERLY

According to Copac, it seems to have run from 1954 (Vol 1 No 1) to 1982 (Vol 14 No 54)

http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/search?title=Pottery%20Quarterly%3B%20a%20review%20of%20ceramic%20art.&rn=3

Looks like the only complete(?) run available for consultation is at Oxford University.

But please, Mud, once you've read it, don't discard it and then stare longingly at the only pots you can live with ;o)

Greenie - thanks for your information and I promise not to discard it. In response to your original request for information regarding reference material & for studio pottery I would recommend an exhibition catalogue issued in 1980 held at the Christopher Wood Gallery, London entitled "British 20th century Studio Ceranics" pre the Paul Rice book & V&A book but full of great info as to how things would become!! Many of the items went on to become "Masterworks" for the period, hope you can find it!

This lot must be well into 4 figures (some were 30/40 quids).
Lots were bought just because they were there and cheap, from
discount sellers at fairs, or remainder or second hand shops.

The ones that are essential (to me):
Goddens
YOF
Bergesen
Torquay
Poole
Langley
Denby
Several V&A books
The Taschen reprints of the studio Year books.

With the ease of referencing on-line now, most are
redundant, but they have more than paid for themselves
over the years before the net.

Can I have that Purple and grey pot above the Millers? Looks like an Upchurch from here.

Sorry it's a giant Candy ware!

http://www.magicfabric.magix.net/public/pottery/candy.htm

DD there is easy over your estimate there even if many were 2nd hand. I used to look at my shelves and think £100 a foot easy.

Whats the Pot above A Potters Life ?

Makes me really want to sort out the books my father and I have now. I should have suggested it earlier by there are lots of essential books by Richard Dennis publishing, some have been mentioned here already. They all appear to be labours of love by the people who wrote them and in most cases are the only books about the subjects available. You can buy them direct but he sometimes stalls out at Shepton mallet antiques fair and offers great prices when he does.