English Delftware Drug Jars

This beautiful book contains the first ever comprehensive survey and catalogue of the collection of English delftware drug jars held in the Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. The book also includes details of tin-glazed barbers' bowls, pill tiles and posset pots in the collections.

Delftware drug jars were originally manufactured in London around 1570. They were expensive, highly prized objects, used by successful apothecaries for storage of pills, ointments, syrups, oils and confections. They were often highly decorated or labelled to indicate their contents.

Today, English delftware drug jars are rare and highly collectable. The Museum of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain holds one of the finest collections of delftware drug jars in the UK, and this beautiful collection has been photographed and catalogued for the first time.

The book includes details about:

• the history of the Society's delftware collection
• the history of English delftware drug jars
• delftware manufacture in London
• 220 individual colour photos of drug jars and other delftware items, with full catalogue entries including a description of the jar, its manufacturer and date

This unique and specialist publication will appeal to historians, collectors and libraries alike and also to anyone with an interest in archaeology and medicinal history.

1. The English Delftware Collection at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

2. English Delftware Drug Jars

Catalogue

Appendix

Bibliography

01-Aug-08, WellcomeHistory
'Featuring over 200 pages of beautifully produced images, this book offers a great means of exploring the practical, decorative and figurative side of drug culture in 1600s and 1700s England.'
Karen Buckle WellcomeHistory Issue 38. August 2008

04-Jan-08, International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding
'An invaluable resource...impressive is this collection and extremely significant to the history of the apothecary. It will be worth your time to enjoy and appreciate the knowledge collected from many to fit in one text the art and history of English delftware collected from the 17th and 18th centuries.'
CompoundingToday.com Newsletter (International Journal of Pharmaceutical Compounding), Volume 5, Issue 1. Published online January 4, 2008

01-Apr-07, Medical History
'...the quality of the scholarship and high production values mean it should stand as an essential reference work for historians for a long time to come.'
Patrick Wallis, Medical History, 2007, 51 (2), 274

23-Mar-07, Antiques Magazine
'An essential volume for historians, collectors and scholars, this is accessible and interesting enough to appeal also to amateur enthusiasts and anyone wanting to learn more about this fascinating area.'
Antiques Magazine, 1108: 42, 2007

01-Dec-06, Pharmaceutical Historian
'This is an excellent survey, taking into account the most recent research. Every English delft drug jar, pill tile, barber's bowl, posset pot and porringer in the collection is beautifully photographed in full colour. English Delftware Drug Jars is a valuable and handsome addition to the subject, which should be welcomed by collectors, historians and students of ceramics and medical and pharmaceutical history.'
D. Ann Hutton, Pharmaceutical Historian, 2006; 36 (4): 53-55

10-Oct-06, Journal of the History of Collections
'This book not only instructs but also entertains, so for pharmaceutical historians it will have been worth the wait.'
Margaret C. Macfarlane, Journal of the History of Collections. 2006; 18: 290-291