EARLY NEW ENGLAND POTTERS AND THEIR WARES

Despite its suggestion of thesis derivative, this scholarly study concerns itself with the sort of investigation and results dear to the heart of not only antiquarians, but their amateur brethren (and sisteren). For it gives one a feeling of being in-on-the-know in relation to the subject under discussion,- principally redware, the earliest of our Colonial pottery from natural clays, and stoneware, which grew out of the need for something sturdier, and which demanded ""importation"" of clays from as far off as Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The steps by which the history and the biographies of the potters were collected and compiled are interesting, and bring ""diggins""- usually associated with Egypt or ancient Troy in our minds, closer home, to the shard piles where once potters plied their trade. Every part of New England was explored, and old records, inventories, diaries, billings, advertisements studied. And the background was reconstructed, from the 17th century potteries near the seacoast to Bennington et al. No proofs of illustrations, but the text refers to figures up to 130 or more. May well be the definitive overall study in this field. Rich in human interest bits and early Americana.