Today, over at What Jane Austen Didn’t Tell Us, we’re discussing the genius of Josiah Wedgwood and the special ground that both he and Jane Austen walked upon.
Jane Austen didn’t tell us what brand of china the Bennets used, but the Austens ate off Wedgwood plates. She refers to her family’s own Wedgwood collection in a letter to Cassandra in which she writes to her sister about “the pleasure of receiving, unpacking & approving our Wedgwood ware.”
Staffordshire’s soil, in the Midlands of west central England, offered miners rich deposits of clay unlike any other region in England. It was Nature herself who provided this rich clay for potters such as Josiah Wedgwood.
satisfaction when a friend (or acquaintance) grasps the “message” of the story; the message that we writers spend time crafting and scrutinizing over. Not to mention the editing (Oh, the editing).
Mary C. M. Phillips 