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                                             BOOK-SHAPED HAND WARMERS 
      pinions about the use of the rarely seen objects in this section have
var- 
ied. Starting with Hodgkin in 1891 and followed by Hobson (1903) and Glaisher
(1914), they were classed as "a flower vase (or flower holder) in the
shape of a 
book." Possibly influenced by Hudig's (1929) illustration of the Rijksmuseum's
example inscribed "ANNO 1651," which he described as "einem
Handwdirmer in 
Buchform" (a hand warmer in book form), Rackham (1935) unhesitatingly
iden- 
tified the Glaisher pieces as "hand-warmers."2 Ray (1968) mentions
a Faenza 
"book" that Dehlinger (1938) calls a "hand-warmer" and
the possibility that they 
may have been used as flasks or spill vases, but discounts the Ashmolean
exam- 
ple's having been used as a vase because the inscription would be the wrong
way 
up (see also no. D354).1 Assuming delft books were employed as hand warmers,
they may sometimes have been used as an alternative to muffs that, from about
1600 to 1800, were carried by Englishmen and -women of most classes., The
scarcity of the books, their likelihood to spill, vulnerability to hot water,
small 
size, and thick walls, however, throw doubt on their ability to transmit
suffi- 
cient heat to warm cold fingers for any length of time. Perhaps, instead,
they 
served their most important function as tokens of affection. A circa 1725
small 
(2" [5.1 cm] tall) salt-glazed, white stoneware, book-shaped vessel
with a thread- 
ed hole for a stopper may have been filled with perfume or, alternatively,
with 
wool soaked in aromatic vinegar to ward off fevers or to revive one who felt
faint.' 
    Dates on the twelve known dated English delft books range from 1658 to
1710 6 from the Commonwealth to the reign of Queen Anne, and at least ten
more are uninscribed.1 England was neither the earliest nor the only producer
of delft books, however, and those made there and on the Continent vary wide-
ly in shape, decoration, and size. The "ANNO 1651" example is 9
5/8 inches 
(24.4 cm) high and undoubtedly is Dutch, as it is decorated with Amsterdam's
city arms.' The Longridge pieces are English and range in size from 3 3/4
inches 
(9.5 cm) for number D354, the smallest delft book known, to 6 1/16 inches
(15.4 cm) for number D355, the largest. (These sizes are roughly half that
of a 
Crown Octavo and a Royal Quarto bound book.) Whilst these are all demon-
strably English, the existence of an Italian book and the fact that the Dutch
item 
predates them by seven years does suggest that the idea originated from the
Continent through migrant workers. 
1. Hodgkin and Hodgkin, Dated Pottery,  5. Horne, collection, pt. 4, no.
90. 
nos. 298, 318, 359, 436; Hobson, British Museum,  6. lOngridge no. )355 plus
Lipski and Archer, 
p. 129, no. El, pl. 11; Burlington (1914), nos. D37,  Dated Delftware, nos.
1762-1772. 
D40, D67, D69. 
                                        7. Macfarlane research (November
1998). See 
 2. Hudig, Fayence, pp. 87, 170, abb. 74; Rackham, 
 Glaisher, vol. 1, nos. 1326, 1428, 1429, 1446, 1451. 
 3. lDehlinger, laenza, pl. 22; Ray, Warren, p. 147,  8. Hudig, Fayence,
pp. 87, 170, abb. 74 (Rijksmu- 
                                        seum collection). 
 no. 45. 
 4. Cunnington, Seventeenth Century, pp. 78, 168 
 and pp. 191-192, citing Dr. James Smith, "Pene- 
 lope & Ulysses, the Burse of Reformation" 
 (c. 1655): "Here is an English conny furr/Rushia 
 hath no such stuffe/Which for to keep your fin- 
 gers warme/Excells your sable muife." 
390 The Longridge Collection