Among the attractions at this year’s ‘Firsts: London’s Rare Book Fair’ on May 15-18 is the desk upon which Hilary Mantel wrote her celebrated ‘Wolf Hall’ trilogy. Fold the Corner Books, founded by ...

The form emerged in the early 18 th century, though the origin of the name is obscure. Chairs of this type were manufactured in large numbers in the Thames Valley in Buckinghamshire, and Windsor may ...

Sotheby's is staging a single-lot auction next month, offering copies of all four Shakespeare Folios. The set, which will be offered in London May 23 with an estimate of £3.5m-4.5m, is the first time ...

This self-portrait painted by Joseph Wright (1734-97) at the age o… ...

Silver spoons for the dining table have been around since antiquity - a much longer history than the table fork, which did not come into general use until the 18 th century. By this time spoons had ...

It was very much a local concern and local is the best word to describe the scope of factory and its wares, the geographical spread of its original clientele and, by and large, the nature of its ...

After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire, became the leading (but not the only) manufacturer of multicoloured transfer printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares. Long admired for ...

While the origins of the game date back over a millennium (early precursors have been traced to the 6th century AD), its popularity in Europe really started to grow in the Medieval period as the game ...

That, at least, was the theory. In fact, relatively little Irish ‘provincial’ silver made the journey to the metropolis to receive official approval – for reasons of security and economy. It is a ...

Records date back to 1720 for a small glassworks off London's Fleet Street, but Britain's longest running glass house, best known as the Whitefriars factory, really came into its own when James Powell ...

"In their view, we Londoners know little about God, and nothing about pottery". Royal Doulton's rise from London makers of domestic stonewares to an internationally-recognised Staffordshire Potteries ...

Burmantofts Pottery was born out of James Holroyd’s architectural brickworks, taking advantage of the rich local deposits of both coal and clay. However, today, the church built in Shakespeare Street ...