RUSKIN POTTERY. Hand-made. Leadless Glaze.

West Smethwick n.d. [c1912]. 204x90mm. 8pp text and two colour photographs of examples of Ruskin pottery. Loosely inserted are six black and white photographs, each with three pieces of pottery. The numbers underneath each piece indicate that these are photographs to be used in sale catalogues. The pamphlet is in the original grey-green card wrappers. Two blue ink stains to upper cover of pamphlet and one of the separate photographs has a scuff to the bottom edge but otherwise in very good condition. It is rare: we have been unable to trace a Ruskin pamphlet answering to this description in the library databases and only one copy appears in the auction records. The pamphlet begins with the statement on the title page that the Flambe pieces made by the Ruskin Pottery "have the qualities of some of the finest specimens of Chinese Pottery. Each piece is unique". Press notices and an interesting explanation of the manufacturing methods form the rest of this short pamphlet written by W. Howson Taylor who is named on the front as the "Sole Maker". He took over the business on the death of his father E.R.Taylor in 1911. The firm, founded in 1898, taking its name, with permission, from John Ruskin, had had a great run of success in the early twentieth century winning prizes at numerous international exhibitions. Perhaps William Howson Taylor felt that, with his father's death, he needed to set out a new chapter in the life of the Pottery. In fact, William had, in many ways, been the guiding creative spirit from the beginning, devising the rich and varied array of glazes that were the distinctive mark of Ruskinware. Taylor's glazes were so novel and brilliant that when the firm closed in 1935, the formulae and documents were destroyed so that no-one else could repeat them. Unsurprisingly, Ruskinware and original material relating to it, including pamphlets and photographs such as these are sought after.