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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Toilet. Was it so important? Blair argues that it was!, 21 Aug 2000
In it's Millennium Issue The Times described the humble toilet as one of the 10 greatest inventions of the last 1000 years. What an incredible statement! But after reading Munroe Blair's history of the Ceramic Water Closet I can see exactly why.I have read one of the first copies available and how impressed I was. This forty-page Shire publication is packed with original illustrations, colour photographs and a lively text. Blair, a native of The Potteries and with life-long experience of the sanitaryware industry, traces the development of the water closet from Harington's invention of 1592 through to the 6 litre push button, dual flush affairs of the new millennium. The strengths and weaknesses of the Cummings and Bramah valve closets are discussed and Blair suggests why these complicated contraptions of the mid 18th century never really caught on. Then the impact of two great sanitary engineers is described. Thomas William Twyford and Sir Henry Doulton were the real heroes of the development of sanitary science. Twyford was the Stoke-on-Trent man who produced the first one-piece, freestanding, all-ceramic, washout pedestal closet in 1883. It was a breakthrough at the time and it's not that long ago, is it? And Henry Doulton was the London potter who developed ceramic sewer pipes before manufacturing toilets himself. Blair argues that it was these two Victorian entrepreneurs who got sewage off the streets and safely underground and it was these two who did so much to help rid the nation of cholera and improve the standard of living of many people. Interestingly both Twyford and Doulton bathrooms are still manufactured in Stoke-on-Trent today. The toilet is not so humble, is it! But what of Thomas Crapper? No he didn't invent the toilet. Munroe Blair explodes the myth. At last! This book is obviously a lot less lavish than Lucinda Lambton's "Temples of Convenience, and Chambers of Delight" but it is certainly a more academic attempt at the history of the toilet. And perhaps more accurate too. For students of industrial and social history this is a must. A new reference work, perhaps. For the interested layman its great fun. For either audience I suspect Blair's history of the ceramic WC won't be bettered for a very long time. Munroe Blair's "Ceramic Water Closets" is excellent value for money. Buy it!
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by Munroe Blair
by David J. Eveleigh
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