This edition had all images removed.
Title: China collecting in America
Original Publication: New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892, pubdate 1906.
Credits: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Summary: "China collecting in America" by Alice Morse Earle is a historical account written in the late 19th century. It explores the passion, practice, and history of seeking old china and related tableware in the United States, especially New England, blending personal memoir with antiquarian research. The work likely appeals to collectors and readers of material culture, moving from anecdotes of “china hunting” into guidance, ethics, and the evolution of tableware from wood and pewter to Delft, English wares, and Oriental porcelain. The opening of the book recounts the author’s “midsummer madness” for hunting old china across New England, detailing the thrills, frequent disappointments, and crafty etiquette of buying from wary farm households. Vivid anecdotes include failed negotiations (a Nankin bowl used for mixing chicken-dough), misidentified “Martha Washington” plates, evasive hoarders, and the colorful stratagems of dealers—alongside a playful fantasy of collecting from a tin-peddler’s cart. The narrative weighs the ethics of the chase, from gentle persuasion to dubious ruses and even brushes with stolen goods, and sketches the social settings of auctions, schoolhouse intelligence-gathering, and unglamorous roadside meals. The next section turns to history, surveying wooden trenchers and pewter—porringers, platters, candlesticks, and communion services—their manufacture, household pride, and preservation, illustrated by a Shrewsbury homestead laden with shining pewter. The account then begins tracing early American porcelain use and importation: English misconceptions about china, Delft and stoneware appearances in colonial inventories, the silver-mounted Winthrop jug, Boston’s early 18th‑century advertisements for “chayney,” and regional contrasts showing New England’s lead. It closes this opening stretch with the culture of repairing cherished pieces and a glimpse of Franklin sending select English and Oriental wares home to Philadelphia. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Author: Earle, Alice Morse, 1851-1911
EBook No.: 77000
Published: Oct 7, 2025
Downloads: 401
Language: English
Subject: Pottery -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Subject: Porcelain -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
LoCC: Fine Arts: Decorative and Applied Arts, Decoration and Ornament
Category: Text
Rights: Public domain in the USA.
This edition has images.
Title: China collecting in America
Original Publication: New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892, pubdate 1906.
Credits: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
Summary: "China collecting in America" by Alice Morse Earle is a historical account written in the late 19th century. It explores the passion, practice, and history of seeking old china and related tableware in the United States, especially New England, blending personal memoir with antiquarian research. The work likely appeals to collectors and readers of material culture, moving from anecdotes of “china hunting” into guidance, ethics, and the evolution of tableware from wood and pewter to Delft, English wares, and Oriental porcelain. The opening of the book recounts the author’s “midsummer madness” for hunting old china across New England, detailing the thrills, frequent disappointments, and crafty etiquette of buying from wary farm households. Vivid anecdotes include failed negotiations (a Nankin bowl used for mixing chicken-dough), misidentified “Martha Washington” plates, evasive hoarders, and the colorful stratagems of dealers—alongside a playful fantasy of collecting from a tin-peddler’s cart. The narrative weighs the ethics of the chase, from gentle persuasion to dubious ruses and even brushes with stolen goods, and sketches the social settings of auctions, schoolhouse intelligence-gathering, and unglamorous roadside meals. The next section turns to history, surveying wooden trenchers and pewter—porringers, platters, candlesticks, and communion services—their manufacture, household pride, and preservation, illustrated by a Shrewsbury homestead laden with shining pewter. The account then begins tracing early American porcelain use and importation: English misconceptions about china, Delft and stoneware appearances in colonial inventories, the silver-mounted Winthrop jug, Boston’s early 18th‑century advertisements for “chayney,” and regional contrasts showing New England’s lead. It closes this opening stretch with the culture of repairing cherished pieces and a glimpse of Franklin sending select English and Oriental wares home to Philadelphia. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Author: Earle, Alice Morse, 1851-1911
EBook No.: 77000
Published: Oct 7, 2025
Downloads: 401
Language: English
Subject: Pottery -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Subject: Porcelain -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
LoCC: Fine Arts: Decorative and Applied Arts, Decoration and Ornament
Category: Text
Rights: Public domain in the USA.