Tried by Fire: A Work on China Painting

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1886. First Edition . Very Good/No Jacket. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Contain b&w plates and text illustrations, 12 color plates (including frontispiece), 8 pp. ads in rear including one for Frackelton's Portable Gas Kiln, which she invented. Bound in decorative brown cloth with gilt title, engraved bookplate of J. Osgood Carleton on front pastedown, small water stain on lower margin throughout measuring about 3 ½" long x ¼" from the lower edge, minor soiling and a few small stains on cover, top and bottom of spine worn. This is very good copy of this scarce manual by a leader in the Arts and Crafts movement. It describes how to decorate china ware by hand, working with color, gold, acid or silver and also includes a section entitled "Photography on China". Susan Stuart Goodrich Frackelton (c.1851-1932) was a native of Milwaukee and studied landscape painting under one of Wisconsin 's earliest professional artists, Henry Vianden. These lessons and nature later influenced her compositions used on her ceramics and china painting. She was a leading porcelain painter and ceramist of the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Her salt-glazed stoneware and her china painting brought her the most acclaim. Frackelton was an exhibitor and medal winner at various International Cotton Expositions.