The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain - Tristram Hunt

When Tristram Hunt was an MP, his constituency was Stoke-on-Trent Central. Stoke being the centre of the UK ceramics industry and home to the Wedgwood company. Josiah Wedgwood, founder of that company, was perhaps the greatest English potter who ever lived. From his kilns and workshops in Staffordshire he revolutionised the production of ceramics in Georgian Britain by marrying style, technique and entrepreneurialism. Wedgwood transformed the luxury markets of the world, ushering in mass consumerism.

Josiah Wedgwood was radical in his politics and beliefs as well as his designs. He campaigned for free trade and religious tolerance and supported the French Revolution and American War of Independence. Perhaps most powerfully he created the symbol that came to represent the abolitionist movement: his Emancipation Badge which depicted a slave in chains and was inscribed 'Am I not a Man and a Brother?'.

Hunt's biography utilises V&A's archive (of which he is now Director), Wedgwood's own diaries and correspondence.

Hardback. 323 pages

Measurements - The Radical Potter: Josiah Wedgwood and the Transformation of Britain - Tristram Hunt:

16cm x 24cm x 3.2cm

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