Adams, Elizabeth — Chelsea Porcelain

London, Barrie & Jenkins, 1987. Hardbound. Blue cloth with blue glossy color illustrated dust jacket. 224 pp. 20 color and 154 bw plates, in addition to text diagrams. "Some of the most delightful English porcelain ever made was manufactured in the middle of the eighteenth century at a factory in Chelsea set up by the Huguenot silversmith Nicholas Sprimont. His enterprise -- and the skill of the craftsmen he employed -- helped to establish English soft paste alongside the great European hard-paste porcelain manufactures of Meissen and Sevres; and the figures and wares he produced now fetch thousands of pounds at auction. Elizabeth Adams charts the progress of Sprimont's venture and describes in detail the wares now known as Chelsea. Meticulous research into contemporary manuscripts and catalogues has enabled her to reconstruct the history of the Chelsea Porcelain factory, from its setting up c. 1744 to its final destruction in 1784, some fifteen years after Sprimont himself had ceased to be associated with it." (dj) A beautiful copy of this classic book. Extensive index, great illustrations. VG (DJ interior has light tanning at edges, otherwise clean.) .