The Shorter Connection: A Family Pottery 1874-1974

Rating:
Summary: THE GREAT CONNECTION
Review: This is compulsory reading for anybody interested in the Shorter factory output, including Clarice Cliff (the book explains the connection), Mabel Leigh, Wilkinson Pottery and Newport Pottery, over a 100 year period from 1874 to 1974. As an avid collector of Shorter items, this is the only book available on the subject. They do a great job, talking to past employees of the company, and have not only great colour photos of some of the ranges, but interesting black and white photos provided by some of the ex employees, the old Shorter sales catalogues, and advertisements. The authors have thoroughly researched their subject matter, and obviously greatly enjoy their collecting hobby. The only down side, (if there is one) is that once you become hooked on collecting Shorter's product, you realise that not only is the range so diversified and vast, but to capture the full output of this interesting company, would entail 3 or more books of this size. Values of Shorter items are increasing rapidly, especially due to the fact that many styles of items were sent to different countries around the world during the WW2 export drive, and one would like to hope that because of the current interest of collectors, volume 2 is not too far away.