content: This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever seen. It is full of large colour plates of exceptional quality, showing the most excellent pieces of ceramics from all over the world. Each plate is accompanied by explanatory text. In addition each chapter starts with a short but very good historical introduction. The chapters are: The Near East, Egypt and the Mediterranean -- Greek vases -- The kilns of ancient Rome -- Ceramics of the Islamic world -- European Majolica -- European porcelain -- North American ceramics -- Chinese ceramics -- Korean ceramics -- Japanese ceramics. I would recommend this book to everyone who wants to learn about the history and the wonders of ceramics. For the experts in this field this book should also be of interest, mainly for the beautiful colour plates. This is a wonderful and valuable book.