Book excerpt: This is the fifth revised edition of a standard work of reference which was first published in 1969. It is a remarkable book that effortlessly and enjoyably takes the reader from the earliest pottery extant dating from the first Neolithic period, through the great classical names such as Wedgwood and Spode, Staffordshire and Ironstone to the more readily collectable pottery of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There are many individual studies of potteries and potters but here Griselda Lewis succeeds in putting this vast array of them into an understandable historical perspective and traces the links in the development of the rich tradition of pottery in England. This book triumphantly succeeds in the most difficult task of all, that of arousing enthusiasm. - this comment by a reviewer on a previous edition of the work neatly sums up one of the main reasons for the book's enduring success. The new edition contains almost three times as much colour as the first edition and benefits from the wealth of research that has gone on in the past twelve years. There is a large section on modern studio potters and commercial wares that will be of particular interest to the contemporary collector. AUTHOR: Griselda Lewis is author of many books on pottery including An Introduction to English Pottery, A Picture History of English Pottery, Prattware (with John Lewis) and A Handbook of Crafts. 175 colour & 173 b/w illustrations