World Ceramics: An Illustrated History

New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1990. Hardbound. VG (DJ is slightly aged and is corner clipped; otherwise clean.). Tan stamped cloth with gilt letters on spine and gilt decoration on front cover; white & color-illustrated dust jacket; illus. flyleaves; 352 pp., 1019 illustrations in bw and color. "Comprehensive in every way, this exciting visual history of ceramics shows all the diversity of this subject in well over a thousand illustrations -- over sixty in colour. The dual role of ceramics -- its evolution as a utilitarian craft, as well as its elaboration into a decorative art -- is fascinatingly displayed in all its contexts, from the peasant's hearth to the courts of kings. This history reaches far back into remotest antiquity to the earliest archaeological discoveries of crude baked clay vessels. All the mainstreams of ceramic tradition, reflecting the character and taste of diferent civilisations, are then traced through prehistory, the medieval and Renaissance periods, the age of elegance, followed by the industrial revolution, right up to the present day." (dj).