Author: Catalogue - tiles. Minton, Hollins & Co. Stoke Upon Trent.
Title: [Catalogue of art-painted tiles, enamelled tiles and embossed Majolica tiles].
Description: Minton Hollins c1873. Small folio (33x22cm) publisher's cloth backed printed boards (ink stain on front cover); 2pp and 25 chromolitho plates, 12pp price list loosely inserted. Minor signs of use, the ink stain apart a rather good copy. ¶ Here we have the arty tiles those for walls, surrounds and so on. Encaustic and paving tile patterns were available separately from the company. Around 1870 there was a split between the partners of Minton and for a short while there were two companies making Minton tiles until a law suit settled the matter. Hence the stern declaration on the cover - and the price list - that the patents and the name belong this firm. Both cover and price list include their 1873 Vienna exposition medal and a slip added to the price list announces a price rise in August 1872 - 10% will be added to the prices here. Maybe once a week for years and years - this was a long time ago when I kept shop with open doors in Sydney - an unappealing man would come in and ask if we had a 19th century Minton tile catalogue. When I said no, he said, "I do." I think he had some job that would be unspeakably dull but that it allowed him to tour the bookshops of greater Sydney assuring us all that he had a Minton tile catalogue. The last time I went to a Sydney book fair there he was, asking the same question with such anticipation that he barely paused for the answer before his inevitable boast. I don't remember his name, I don't know if he's still alive and I have no wish to see him ever again but still, still, I would like to say, "Why yes, yes I do".

Keywords: trade catalogues architecture building materials design manufactures c19th England tiles ceramics applied arts tiles