‘Selling Gouda by The Pound’, by Jan Wieringa
‘The first book to focus on Dutch Art Nouveau and Art Deco pottery exports to the United Kingdom and beyond.
Ever since the early 1900s, Gouda Art Nouveau and Art Deco had found a healthy market in the UK. Yet, the ‘who, what, where and how’ were always quite opaque – until now.
Selling Gouda by the Pound takes the reader on a fascinating journey of how the various contacts with English agents came about and how they operated.
A wide range of sources has been consulted, including years of research at the Stoke-on-Trent City Archives in Hanley. This research uncovered countless highly valuable and interesting articles and photographs in the Pottery Gazette relating to the various sales campaigns of Dutch art pottery. These covered the main discoveries between 1900 and 1932 and the Gazette’s international reach certainly heightened interest abroad and also boosted foreign trade.
The ‘Gouda story’ begins in the final quarter of the 19th century and carries on into the 1930s in the UK. This was the time that the impact of Dutch art pottery abroad was most visible and when even English potters came under its influence.
Although the most prominent exports came from Gouda, Arnhem was a close second. After the Great War, some of Gouda’s pipe-makers-cum-art-potteries also tried to claim their market share in the UK.
Alongside the main ‘Zuid-Holland Works’ trade channel with its UK agent, there was also a highly fruitful agreement with The House of Liberty in London.
All in all, this book is quite an eye-opener, lifting the lid and letting the light shine on information which had been kept in the dark for more than a hundred years.’
You can order the book directly from the author, Jan Wieringa, via his website: Selling Gouda by The Pound
