Disappearing acts

Jenny Uglow has a very good piece at the Guardian Review on Josiah Wedgwood and the history of British ceramics:

He also opened showrooms in London, cleverly designed so that visiting them became a fashionable thing to do, in line with attending public art exhibitions. He wanted a "Large" room, he said, in order to "do the needful with the Ladys in the neatest, genteelest and best method. And besides room for my Ware, I must have room for my Ladys for they sometimes come in very large shoals together."

Also of interest: Will Self's Sebaldian progression.