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About this book
"China collecting in America" by Alice Morse Earle is a historical account written in the late 19th century. It explores the passion, practice, and history of seeking old china and related tableware in the United States, especially New England, blending personal memoir with antiquarian research. The opening of the book recounts the author’s “midsummer madness” for hunting old china across New England, detailing the thrills, frequent disappointments, and crafty etiquette of buying from wary farm households. Vivid anecdotes include failed negotiations (a Nankin bowl used for mixing chicken-dough), misidentified “Martha Washington” plates, evasive hoarders, and the colorful stratagems of dealers—alongside a playful fantasy of collecting from a tin-peddler’s cart. The narrative weighs the ethics of the chase, from gentle persuasion to dubious ruses and even brushes with stolen goods, and sketches the social settings of auctions, schoolhouse intelligence-gathering, and unglamorous roadside meals.
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