Royal Delft: A Guide to De Porceleyne Fles (Schiffer Book for Collectors) (Hardcover)

300 pages are packed full of highly detailed information about thousands of Porceleyne Fles models: model names (in Dutch and English) and numbers, orignal prices, sizes, rarity and modern value. Whatever your interest, be it plates, vases, clocks or wooden shoes, you can easily find a massive amount of information here about your particular pieces. But Erickson has organized the book so well (chapters providing an overview of Delftware, history of Porceleyne Fles, marks, and individual chapters about different categories of pieces) that it is always enjoyable and easy to read. Erickson has managed to relate Delftware to interesting social trends and history. A book this dense could easily be very heavy, but he has included enough humour and such a shere variety of photos that you will use it both as a comprehensive reference book and for pleasure reading/viewing. His authoritative knowledge is obvious, and so is his love of Delftware.

The book aims to provide something for everyone and succeeds: from casual to serious collectors; antique dealers to museum curators. Even those just interested in design, or Dutch art and cultural history will really like this book. Whether you concentrate on traditional blue and white Delftware (tiles, covered pots and vases, and plates), wonderful Art Nouveau styles, Iznik-styled pottery, or Arts & Crafts ceramics that equal the best of our British pieces - this book has it. My suggestion is buy it and enjoy it!

The book describes in five chapters the history of Delftware, and more specifically the history of "The Porceleyne Fles". After this introduction, the main body of the text comprises of 10 chapters describing the different sorts of Delftware such as tableware, vases, jugs, wall plates, dishes, tiles, and pieces in styles other than the well known blue and white. There are over 1000 photographs, the majority in colour, with a rarity rating for each piece shown.

There is, of course, a chapter that explains all the marks, letters denoting the year code, and the markings of the painter. The final chapter gives you a lot of tips about collecting Delftware. There is also an appendix with a comprehensive list of all painters and their signatures.

I have not seen a book about Delftware that matches this one in comprehensiveness and detail provided. The inevitable drawback is that the focus is only on the leading producer. It gives no information about any of the many other producers of Delftware. So if you are interested in identifying your piece and you have no clue who made it, this is not the book for you. However, for the interested novice collector, such as I, this is an indispensable guide to help me identify Delftware from "The Porceleyne Fles", and to help me judge the approximate value of the item which I am interested in. I would think this would also apply to the expert collector or dealer.