"As one of the most important, most distinctive and most collectable of 20th century British potteries, Poole is surprisingly little known. Few books have been published about this innovative company and its diverse products, and the most recent, though excellent, has long been out of print. With its hundreds of colour illustrations, and its highly detailed captions and information panels, this new book represents the distillation of years of research by the well-known Poole historian Leslie Hayward, and makes accessible to collectors for the first time the extraordinary range of wares associated with the factory. The story starts with the making of tiles and architectural and garden ceramics by Jesse Carter from the 1870s, and the gradual development of a pottery devoted increasingly to domestic and ornamental wares under the control of his sons Owen and Charles, aided by the designer and artistic potter, James Radly Young. From an early range of decorative lustres there emerged a style of simple, hand-painted patterns that established the Poole name. Initial inspiration came from sources as diverse as Egypt, Greece, the Middle East and South America but, with the revival of the traditional Delftware technique of freehand painting in bright colours onto an opaque white tin-glaze, the characteristic Poole style was born, with its individualistic approach to decoration instantly recognisable through the decades of Poole's history, and in its contemporary products." "With its illustrations of virtually every known Poole product and its full list of factory marks and artists' monograms, this book will be indispensable for collectors, and for anyone interested in the history of 20th century design."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved