JOSIAH WEDGWOOD: A New Biography

Born in the Staffordshire potteries in 1739, Josiah Wedgwood was from a family of potters who worked in traditional ways, but he was to revolutionise the industry. When he started work, the local ware was rather rustic, and made to look more sophisticated with heavy glazes. Wedgwood worked to produce a lighter coloured body and to use designs to appeal to aristocratic tastes, convinced the middle class would follow fashion. The result was cream ware which, when a whole service was ordered by the royal family, was soon christened Queen's Ware. Wedgwood needed to import new materials - flint from East Anglia, light clays from the West Country, and so became an ardent promoter of the Trent and Mersey Canal, and built a new factory and family home on its banks, naming the area Etrura. In the new works he abandoned old systems where individual craftsmen produced whole pieces to bring in an early form of mass production. His ceramics are still world famous such as the distinctive Jasperware. Wedgwood was one of the earliest supporters of the Anti Slavery Movement, studied science and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work on high temperature thermometers. This edition incorporates new colour plates to the updated 1976 edition with a heavy reliance on letters, many quoted in full. 218pp.