[MR] Some Medieval Tile Books / An Updated Bibliography

[rmhowe]

Some Medieval Tile Books

I've been adding some notes to my list of books I own.
Perhaps these would be of interest to some of you.
Personally, I find the charming designs to be inspirational for
other types of artwork. Ever think about stencilling wall covers
with them? That's a possibility even if you don't do tiles.

The Victorians were great imitators of the Gothic Style. Although
it began in the 18th century Victorian Imitation of Gothic design
did not take full flower until middle decades of the 19th Century.
Since the methods used imitated the medievals in some methods as
well as style I have included a couple of books about Victorian
Tilers.

Barnard, J.: Victorian Ceramic Tiles, London, 1972. (not seen by me).

Shire Books.com puts out a magnificent Victorian Age recreated Gothic
Tiles book I have seen and want to order. http://www.Shirebooks.com/
It's called:

Victorian Tiles by Hans van Lemmen; Shire Album 67, ISBN 0747804443, 
	40 pages, 50 colour and 32 b/w illustrations. £4.50 

There is another too, which is also based on preceding Medival Tiles:

Beaulah, Kenneth and Hans van Lemmen: Church Tiles of the Nineteenth
Century;
	Shire Album 184, ISBN 0747805024, 40 pages, with many colour and 
	b&w illustrations. £4.50  "This book describes how they derived 
	from medieval church tiles, how they were made and who designed 
	and manufactured them." This is about decorative encaustic 
	tiles and their precedents. 

A Wide Variety of Medieval Objects interpreted and recorded by
Early Victorians in many books has been gathered and published
(unfortunately) in totally unprovenanced color and black and white
illustrations in one book prefaced in multiple languages called:

Medieval Design; A Pepin Press Book, ISBN 9054960728, 240 pages, 
2002, has to be at least 1000 illustrations. I don't know what 
it sells for normally, but my copy was $22 plus tax. The Pepin 
Press, P.O. Box 10349, 1001 EH Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Telephone (+) 31 20 4202021 / Fax (+) 31 20 4201152.
mail at pepinpress.com / http://www.pepinpress.com
There are a number of medieval tile designs in it. It's a shame
you don't know from where. There are also jewellery, furntiture,
headresses, dress accessories, carved architecture, tombs, 
armour, a magnifient scribal chair and desk interpretation,
chairs and thrones, and cloth designs, caskets, beds, boat 
and small ship, a fancy wagon (perhaps after the Luttrel Psalter,
a (German) tent upon a wagon, a metal scrolled hand cart, 
religious crooks and crosses, candlesticks, aquamaniles, and
other Dinanderie (fancy cast objects from Dinant, France), 
chandeliers, oil lamps, chalices, royal cups, censers, shrines,
illuminated pages in colour, crowns and coronets, fire tools,
cooking items, spoons, weaponry (including complicated sword
hanging techniques with belts, armours from 800+ years, shields,
clothing designs, ivory mirror cases, fancy combs, a chatelaine,
religious and secular costume. So it's useful for design anyway.  

Betts, Ian M.: Medieval 'Westminster' Floor Tiles; Museum of London 
	Archaeology Service, 2002, £11.95 / $19.95 
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm?ID=33220&MID=5906  08/02

Birley, Robin: Roman Records  from Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall; New 
	Edition 1999. First published 1990; 2nd edition, revised and 
	enlarged, 1994, Third Edition, brought up to date and 
	enlarged 1999. 82pp, 43 b/w illustrations,  210mm x 150mm 
	8to.  ISBN 1873136919 (pb). Published by Roman Army Museum 
	Publications, Carvoran, Greenhead, Via Carlisle CA6 7JB, U.K.
	£ 4.95  with shipping  $10.  Contains some stamped tiles
	identifying the legionary units that made them. Vindolanda
	lasted until the fourth century AD.

Catalogue of Medievqal Lead-Glazed Earthernware Tiles in the Department
	of Medieval and Later Antiquities in the British Museum, 
	(2 Vols.), 1980. (cited but not owned by me.)

Eames, Penelope and Thomas Fanning: Irish Medieval Tiles - Decorated 
	Medieval Paving Tiles in Ireland - with an Inventory of Sites 
	and Designs in a Visual Index. Circa 1250-1550. 179 x 212 mm; 
	154 pp; Illus. Hardback £14.95; ISBN 0901714623  www.ria.ie, 
	Royal Irish Academy Monographs in Archaeology, Royal Irish 
	Academy, 19 Dawson St., Dublin 2, 1988, Hardbound,  
	ISBN 0901714623. http://www.ria.ie/
	"This major contribution to Irish medieval studies is the result
	of many years of research on the tile industry that flourished 
	in Anglo-Norman Ireland. A comprehensive account of Irish tiles,
	detailing their manufacture, the main types and decorative 
	techniques, it also gives a full inventory of the 88 sites 
	where tiles have been located, a descriptive catalogue and 
	complete visual index of the 505 known designs reproduced at 
	one-third their actual size, and 8 striking colour and 	6 
	black and white plates depicting pavements in situ.; 505 
	third scale examples in  47 line drawings, 148 pages. 
	Includes a drawing of a reconstruction of a medieval floor 
	tile kiln.
	Out of print. Obtainable from the antiquarian market.
	Check http://bookfinder.com or http://biblion.com/
	The Academy should still have the Carvings from Viking Age 
	Dublin book, which is a treasure.

Eames, Elizabeth: English Tilers, Medieval Craftmen Series;
        University of Toronto Press 1992. ISBN 0802077064. Paperbound.
        72 pages, 43 colour and 41 B&W Illustrations. Covers ovens,
        tools, molds, techinques, many examples of embossed and inlaid
        tiles, as well as shaped pattern tiles. Contains the only
        surviving wooden tile stamp. Very pretty book!.

Eames, Elizabeth: English Medieval Tiles; British Museum, Harvard 
        University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1985.
        Contains many of the same illustrations as the English Tilers
        book by the same author, 72pp. Lacks the tool illustrations
        but has the surviving stamp depicted in the English tilers
        book. Mainly a rearrangement of the above. color and b&W. PP.

Fired Earth 1000 Years of Tiles in Europe; Exhibition Catalogue, 
	Richard Dennis Publications. 1991. Card cover, 179pp,
	illustrated.  (not located by me yet)

Friar, Stephen: A Companion to the English Parrish Church; Bramley 
	Books, 1998, An imprint of Quadrillion Publishing Ltd., 
	Godaling Business Centre, Woolsack Way, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1XW
	517 page hardback, illustrated, dj, ISBN 1858337380.  
	While not heavy on tiles, a particularly nice history of their
	use in parish churches is given in this book. It discusses the
	early history of the tiles, and the several methods (unillustrated)
	by which they were made. "A pattern could be engraved in outline
	on the surface of the tile or a design carved in relief or 
	counter-relief on a wood-block which was then pressed into
	the tile.  In both instances the tile was then glazed and fired
	to produce a patterned tile of one colour. A third method was to
	fill the matrix of a stamped tile with white pipeclay before it
	was glazed and fired. This produced the familiar brown and yellow
	encaustic tiles.  Occaisionaly the design was reversed with a
	dark pattern set into a light coloured tile."
	   The author discusses the size of the tiles and the growth of
	the tiling industry, and where the tiles might be seen today.
	   There are four tiles and a complex tile assembly illustrated
	on page 446.  

Grafton, Carol Belanger: Old English Tile Designs for Artists and
        Craftspeople; with 161 Illustrations. Origninally published
        as Mediaeval English Pavingtiles, in 1937, by Lord Haberly
        (Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1937). Dover original edition 1984.
        161 B&W illustrations, 128pp. 8 3/8 x 11". Unprovenanced but
        said to be mostly from the Oxford region.

Herbert, T. and Huggins, K.: The Decorative Tile in Architecture and
	Interiors, London, 1995. (recommended to but not seen by me.)

Liebgott, Niels-Knud: Kakler, Hovedtraek af kakkeloven historie ca.
        1350-1650.1972. Concerns the making and construction details 
        for Kakler which are the deep relief oven tiles standing ovens 
        are made from. Nationalmuseet, Kobenhavn.
        ISBN 874807061. 39pp. paperback. Some excellent designs,
        knight on horseback for example. Some are made by turning
        cylinders and cutting them in half, then building the border
        around them and decorating.
Liebgott, Niels-knud:  Middelalderen 1, Land og by; c by Forlaget Sesam 
	a/s, Kobenhavn. Norhavn Bogtrykkeri a/s, Vibor, 1984, Hardback, 
	128 pages with illustrations and photographs in black and white 
	and color. ISBN 87-73248703.  Illustreret af Flemming Bau og 
	Beth Beyerholm;  Liebgott has been a Museum Inspector for the 
	National Museet since 1970 (born in 1942.)  
	Drawings of Kakler stoves with the special tiles circa 1500-50 65.

McWhirr, Roman Crafts and Industries; Shire Archaeology 24, 1982/88,
	ISBN 085263594X, 64pp., £2.95 / $6.36. Contents: Preface, 
	metals; stone; brick, tile, and pottery; textiles and leather; 
	glass; other crafts; further reading; monuments and museums 
	to visit; index.

Nichols, John Gough (ed.): Medieval Tile Designs; 1998, Dover
Publications, 
	Minneola, NY. ISBN 0486299473, paperback, originally printed in 
	London 1845, 60 pages of black and white illustrations. 146 
	designs, individually wholly unprovenanced in this edition, 
	possibly in the original. Extremely rare as an original as most
	copies were burnt up in a fire shortly after printing.
  
Rotterdam Papers II, A Contribution to Medieval Archaeology
	Teksten van lezingen, gehouden tijdens het Symposium `Woning en 
	huisraad in de Middeleeuwen' te Rotterdam, van 20 t/m 22 maart 
	1973. Uitgegeven onder 	redactie van J.G.N. Renaud, Rotterdam 1975.
	Elizabeth S. Eames - Decorated Tile Pavements in Medieval Houses 5-16.

Royal Armouries Yearbook 6; 2001, £17.50 before shipping.
	73 - A tile from Chertsey Abbey, about 1270 showing a knight on 
	charger about to fire his crossbow. 

Salisbury Museum Medieval Catalogues
	1. Harness pendants, seals, rings, spurs, tiles, coins, mortars, 
	etc. described by Peter and Eleanor Saunders. Objects illustrated
	with drawings. 191p with ill (1991) Pb £19.95
same book, different reference:
Saunders, Peter and Eleanor: Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum 
	Medieval Catalogue Part I, published by the Salisbury and South 
	Wiltshire Museum, The King's House, 65 The Close, Salisbury, 
	Wiltshire SP1 2EN, England, ISBN 0947535136. Contains an article
	on Seal Matrices by John Cherry pp. 29-39 with a half page 
	bibliograhy. Other items covered include Harness Pendants,
	Rings, Textiles, Spurs, Arrowheads, Tiles, Coins, Mortars.
 	Available through http://www.kingskeep.com or http://oxbowbooks.com

Sherlock, David: Medieval Floor Tiles in Suffolk Churches; Suffolk
        Historic Churches Trust, paperbound, no date but post 1980.
        Possibly reachable through the The Old Rectory, Chattisham,
        Ipswich IP8 3PY. 47pp. 157 oftentimes very pretty designs
	drawn in dark brown on a parchment colored paper. With 
	complete notes.

Singer, Charles (ed. et al): A History of Technology, Volume II, The
	Mediterranean Civilizations and the Middle Ages c. 700 BC
	to c. A.D. 1500; 1956, Oxford University Press, New York and
	London. The listings are under Building Construction in the
	index.  Ceramics by E.M. Jope begins of page 284 and while
	encaustic tiles as floor decoration is not specifically
	discussed the techniques of decoration and general pottery
	work, including lead glaze, slip, graffito, and illustrated
	kilns and wheels are. Bricks and Tiles: 278, 304-7, 387-8 
	(covers the Roman period in England then skips to 1212 when 
	tiles as roofing material became compulsory in London, from 
	which point the industry expanded into the 15th century. 
	A medieval brick and tile kiln with workers is shown on page
	388., 402-3 (Greek style roofing tiles), 415 (Roman roof 
	tiles), 418 (Roman wall tiles), 429 Medieval half round roof
	tiles), 438-40 (discusses molded brick for architectural purposes).   

Stopford, Jennie: Recording Mediaeval Floor Tiles;  Council for
        British Archaeology Practical Handbook 10, 4.70GBP, 
        112 Kennington Road, London SE11 6RE, ISBN 1872414036. 
        46 page paperback with a few illustrations of tiles. 
        Short Bibliography.
Stopford, Jennie: Modes of Production Among Medieval Tilers; Medieval
        Archaeology 37, 1993; pp. 93-108 with notes. 

van Lemmen, Hans: Decorative Tiles Throughout the Ages, with 40 full 
        color plates; Crescent Books, Crown Publishers, Inc. 225 Park
	Ave. South, New York, NY., Bracken Books 1988. ISBN 0517679604. 
        Very large format book. Only a few medieval tiles in full
	color, quickly goes to later Renaissance Majolica tiles. 
	About 90 pages.
van Lemmen, Hans: Medieval Tiles; Shire Album 380, http://Shirebooks.com 
	£4.50, ISBN 074780463X 40 pp, 72 colour and 10 b/w ills. This 
	paperback begins by covering tile kilns, inlaid tiles from the 
	13th Century in England when medieval tilers were imported from 
	France where the practice began. It illustrates the various types
	of tiles in use during the medieval period - "relief, line-impressed,
	mosaic, and two colour inlaid tiles." Late tenth century Anglo-
	Saxon tiles are illustrated as well. A recreated lead stamp by 
	Diana Hall, a modern tilemaker, is depicted on page 12. On page
	24 she is shown lifting a wooden stamp from a newly impressed
	tile which will later be filled with slip when it has dried and
	then scraped level with the original surface and fired with a 
	glaze. At the end of the little book the restored floors of
	Winchester Cathedral shine with her tiles interspersed with
	the aged tiles whose glaze has worn away. Most illustrations 
	are in full color.  
	
Ward Perkins, J.B.: English Medieval Embossed Tiles; Arch. Journal 94 
	(1), 1937,  pp. 128-53 and plates I-VIII, with various other 
	illustrations and history. 
Ward Perkins, J B.: London Museum Medieval Catalogue 1940. Anglia 
	Publishing, 1993. Catalogue of the wide-ranging collection: 
	weapons, tools, horse furniture, pendants, keys, purses, 
	weights, lighting, household utensils, plate, pottery, 
	tiles, pilgrim souvenirs, buckles, chapes, figures, wood, 
	bone, ivory, glass, pipeclay, whetstones, seals. 322pp, 
	illustrated boards, profusely illustrated with photos and 
	drawings. New. Book # 16 £24.50 (approx. $38.89) 
	Anglia Publishing , Unit T, Dodnash Priory Farm Hazel Shrub, 
	Bentley, Ipswich, United Kingdom , IP9 2DF  Phone 01473 311138
	/ Fax 01473 312288, anglia at anglianet.co.uk  ('99)  

Now if I were looking for an introductory book to reproduce some of
these in a modern fashion, I should look to:

Giorgini, Frank: Handmade Tiles - Designing, Making, Decorating;
        Lark Books, Asheville, N.C., USA, ISBN 0937274763. $25.
        1994, 144 very well illustrated color pages including how
        to make a tile press, tools, and many examples with complete
        instructions as to methods for the beginner. Well worth the
money.

There is a Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society, c/o 3 Browns Rise,
Buckland Common, Tring, Hertfordshire, HP23 6NJ  United Kingdom.

I'm sure I have further references, however, that is what is in the
computer at the moment. I have not been able to find either English
Medieval Industries books today.  Lost in the piles I suppose.

Master Magnus Malleus, OL / © R.M. Howe
Windmasters' Hill, Atlantia / Great Dark Horde

Permission granted for use in the Florilegium, reposting on
non-newsgroup closed member reenactor email lists, NOT to be 
reposted on the SCA-Universitas elist or the Rialto / rec.org.sca 

Master Hroar, you are welcome to use this in the upcoming
CA as part of your bibliography if you like.