Excerpt from Porcelain Its Nature Art and Manufacture
The interest of Porcelain is perennial, and though book succeeds book, the subject remains unexhausted. The aim of this little book is to supply the collector and student of porcelain, as well as the general reader, with a clear and connected account of the various kinds of porcelain made in Asia and Europe. It has taken me more years than I like to count to arrive at the ideas set down in the following pages, and I hope that, as a result of my labours in sifting, weighing, selecting, and arranging, the knowledge gained from so many diverse sources, others may be saved a great deal of unnecessary trouble.
This is in no sense a technical treatise, yet it is based on a practical experience in many branches of the Potter's Art, which has, I trust, enabled me to exhibit certain aspects of the subject in a way that will be new to the bulk of my readers. Throughout the work I have been careful to explain how the artistic qualities of the various porcelains have been influenced by the nature of the materials and processes used in different countries; the information being of such a character as will enable a collector to find the scientific explanation of the differences which an artist feels.
Many difficulties have to be faced in a work necessarily so compressed as this. In the first place, it is impossible to keep the treatment accurately in scale. Naturally, perhaps, in an English book the records of the English factories occupy more space than the artistic merit of their productions would warrant; while German porcelain makes so little appeal to our English tastes, that a German might, not unreasonably, complain that the factories of his country had received less attention than they deserve. Others may think that Japanese porcelain has been somewhat slighted, but I have honestly tried to give a picture that should represent as truly as possible, within the prescribed limits, the development of every important kind of porcelain known.
It is, perhaps, necessary to say a word in explanation of the attention given to the Letters of Pere d'Entrecolles.
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