Mark Bramble (1950–2019)

A Tea Caddy Collection from Mark Bramble is a beautiful and informative book that is so much more than I expected. I admit to liking books like this about a wide variety of subjects and/or objects mainly because it gives me some basic insight into something I would otherwise know little to nothing about. At worst some volumes are little more than lovely photographs with a minimum of explanation or context. While I am fine with that since the photographs are the biggest pull for me, this book offered so much more without being too much.

In addition to a wide-ranging collection of tea caddies there is also a very nice history of tea itself as well as the development of tea caddies over the years. While I had a very rudimentary concept of the history of tea once it made its way to Europe I was ignorant of any details on the origins and development of tea prior to that. And even my understanding of it within the context of European history is largely limited to tea as a factor in economic conditions and financial matters, very little about tea as tea.

While this book filled in so many of those gaps for me it did not get bogged down in it and quickly went into the various types and styles of tea caddy. Looking at the pictures and reading about the making and use of them, I think I may have seen several over the years without ever knowing what they were.

I would highly recommend this both to people who like and collect tea caddies as well as to those like myself who enjoy having a beautifully illustrated book that also serves as a nice introduction.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via Edelweiss.… (más)