Vol. XIX, No. 8. 
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 
December 1917 
VERY gratifying feature for us in 
past weeks has been the compara- 
tive rarity of criticisms of the Kera- 
mic Studio designs. We have re- 
ceived a remarkable number of let- 
ters from subscribers who testify em- 
phatically their appreciation of the 
Magazine. These have come in un- 
usually large numbers and with many 
I promises of help in spreading the 
gospel of individual effort in designing— i. e. putting something 
of themselves into their work. They are good omens for the 
future and heartening to the Editors. 
We do not mean of course that we have not received any 
criticisms. We always do and we like it and we try to profit 
by it. The great difficulty is that these criticisms never agree. 
The designs which certain decorators like are precisely those 
which others object to. In matters of this kind opinions 
and tastes vary and will always vary. We realize very well 
that the designs we publish will not satisfy everybody, but 
we try as much as we can to give only work which, however 
open to criticism it may be, has some merit in it, and we 
would like to see more indulgence shown by some critics 
who are so outspoken in their condemnation of the things they 
do not like that they give the impression that they alone are 
infallible. But are their own designs always perfect, admit- 
ting that there is such a thing as a perfect design, and is there 
nothing to leam, no good suggestion to get even from a design 
one finds imperfect in some way? 
However we have received lately from a prominent deco- 
rator a criticism which* seems to us to contain a good deal of 
truth, it is that there seems to be an unfortunate tendency to 
carry conventionalisation to the extreme and to indulge too 
much in purely abstract designs, and that there is much need 
for more simplicity and sincerity. This does not mean that 
abstract conventionalizations should be taboo, but that they 
should not be abused. 
THE BOOK SHELF 
« K 
When looking for new sources of china supply for the 
future, let us not forget English china. Much of that ware 
would be suitable for amateur work, but before the war, for 
reasons of their own, the English potteries have refused to 
send us white china. Now that they are preparing to develop 
in all possible ways their oversea trade after the war, they 
may very well change their mind. We are writing on this 
subject to Dr. J. W. Mellor, County Potteries Laboratories, 
Staffordshire, England, a very influential man among potters, 
who himself produces a very good china with felspathic glaze, 
but individual letters may not have much effect. We suggest 
that the Clubs and dealers all over the country write to him, 
calling his attention to the possibilities in the white china 
trade for decorators after the war. Concerted action will tell 
where individual action might fail. 
if *r 
STUDIO NOTE 
Mrs. A. E. Wright, of Chicago, is now starting on a south- 
ern trip into Oklahoma and Texas for the Coover studios. 
"Historic | Silver of the Colonies [and !lts Makers." By 
Francis Hill Bigelow. The Macmillan Co. $6.00. 
In a thick volume, packed as full of delectable illustrations 
as an English Christmas pudding is of plums, Francis Hill 
Bigelow has told the story of the early American silversmiths. 
and their wares. Mr. Bigelow's style is decidedly chatty, 
even gossipy, as he describes a particularly quaint tea-pot, 
porringer, or candle-stick. Not only is the object faithfully 
delineated, but information is given as to its maker, its owner, 
with enlivening bits of family history en passant, and its sub- 
sequent journey down through the years, from one descendant 
to another of the original possessor, to its final resting place 
in some museum or private collection. Such interesting 
colonial pieces as Beakers, Candle-cups, Flagons, Baptismal 
Basins, Patens and Salvers, Candlesticks, Snuffers, Dram Cups, 
Tasters, Tea Urns, Spout Cups, Snuff Boxes, Sugar Boxes 
(in use when sugar was even more expensive than it is now), 
Nutmeg Boxes, and Punch Bowls, are made familiar to the 
reader. A number of pieces by our popular hero, Paul Revere, 
are shown. We learn that this talented and patriotic gentle- 
man not only evolved beautiful silver objects but that he also 
filled teeth; in fact, it was he who ministered in a dental capa- 
city to General Washington himself while in Boston. Mr. 
Bigelow has long been a lover of old silver, and it is to him 
credit is due for the various silver exhibits at the Boston Museum 
of Fine Arts within the last ten or twelve years. It is 
evident that the author has enjoyed compiling his book, and 
it is to be expected that each reader will share his pleasure. 
It should be noted that there are valuable illustrations of 
early American church silver,Uncluding Protestant, Catholic 
and Jewish. 
"On Collecting Japanese Color-Prints." By Basil Stewart. 
Dodd,MeadandCo. 
This is truly an art book in every sense. It is artistically 
illustrated and printed, at the same time giving sound advice 
as to the identifying and collecting of Japanese color prints. 
One is told precisely how these fascinating pictures were made. 
To quote from the book itself: "Old Japanese color-prints are 
printed on a sheet of mulberry-bark paper and are the product 
of three different craftsmen; the artist who drew the original 
design, the block-maker or engraver who transferred the de- 
sign to the wood, and the printer. A block was cut for each 
color in addition to the outline or key-block. The drawing 
made by the artist, with whose name alone the print is generally 
associated, was done in India ink, with a brush on very thin 
paper. This was passed to the engraver, who pasted it, face 
downwards, on the wood-block (wild cherry wood) and, cut- 
ting through the paper, transferred the outline to the block, 
afterwards removing the superfluous wood between the lines 
with chisels and gouges, and so producing an accurate negative 
in high relief. Prints which are very early impressions from 
the block often show the mark of the cutting tools and the 
grain of the wood. The artist's design was therefore des- 
troyed, a fact which should be borne in mind when offered a 
drawing of which prints are known to exist, thus proving it to 
be a reproduction." 
Each of these books might well be given to some art-loving 
friend for Christmas. — A. G. C. 
