1873 Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol, Being a History of the Manufacture of "The True Porcelain"

Description

Colour Plates, First Edition, Illustrated, Leather Binding

The first edition of this study of the history of porcelain and ceramics of Bristol, examining the work of Richard Champion, an English merchant and porcelain manufacturer who eventually emigrated to America from his native Bristol.

Illustrated with a portrait frontispiece, four steel engravings, one colour engraving, sixteen further plates, and numerous vignette illustrations. Collated, complete.

To the front pastedown is the bookplate of Leonard Harrison Matthews. Matthews was a British zoologist, especially known for his research and writings on marine mammals.

From the library of Audrey Pleydell-Bouverie, an extravagant socialite and renowned beauty of the Edwardian period. Impeccably connected, Pleydell-Bouverie was also the illegitimate granddaughter of King Edward VII, and rumoured to be a lover of King Edward VIII. A sparkling figure of fashionable society, her friends included Nancy Mitford, Coco Chanel, Winston Churchill, and Fred Astaire.

This work is from the sale of Pleydell-Bouverie’s library at Julians Park, Hertfordshire. She purchased the home in 1940, redesigning the interior and amassing an impressive library, featuring many examples of her own bookbinding.