The Marvellous Book, By Star Talbot (1930)

Posted: October 20th, 2022 | No Comments »

The Marvellous Book, written and self-published by Star Talbot, was a hundred Studies of different types of Chinese Porcelains. It was also a marvellous item in itself, at least at its first printing in Shanghai in 1930 where each edition came in gilt decorated silk and the plates had tissue guards. The first edition was limited to a thousand copies. Talbot, an independently wealthy collector of Chinese porcelain from about 1900, included notes on each of the photographs in English, Chinese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, French and German. The book gives the address of 249 Nanking Road, but whether this was Talbot’s home, office, showroom (or combination of all three) I do not know. The book is pretty rare now.

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