000 03278cam a22003253u 4500
001 77000
003 UtSlPG
005 20260610134801.0
006 m
007 cr n
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aNK
100 1 _aEarle, Alice Morse,
_d1851-1911
245 1 0 _aChina collecting in America
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
500 _aRelease date is 2025-10-07
508 _aRichard 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)
520 _a"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.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cNew York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892
653 _aPottery -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
653 _aPorcelain -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/chinacollectingi1906earl/page/n7/mode/2up
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77000
999 _c117724
_d117724