There is no doubt that this invention revolutionised the decoration of all wares. In regard to the controversy which has arisen as to the prior claims of Battersea for its transfer decorated enamels, and of Worcester for similar decorations by Hancock, the whole matter has been exhaustively dealt with by Mr. William Turner in his "Transfer Printing on Enamels, Porcelain, and Pottery," in which the case for each claimant is minutely analysed.
TITLE PAGE AND ILLUSTRATION. From volume, "The Man in the Moone," published in 1638.
Sadler and his partner Green conducted a large business in this transfer printing for other factories as well as, of course, for the Liverpool delft and other wares. Sadler apparently left the partnership somewhere between 1769 and 1774, so that the signature on the tiles by him gives the date of their printing. Green carried on the business until 1799, and so great was the fame of the firm that cream ware was sent from Etruria and by other Staffordshire potters to be printed at Liverpool, and up till 1799 Wedgwood's successors still continued the practice of having their cream ware printed by Green.
Liverpool tiles obviously differ from Bristol tiles inasmuch as the former were printed after 1756, but of course before that date Liverpool delft tiles must have been painted as they were elsewhere. There are many series of the Sadler and Green period, one notable one being a number of actors and actresses, including Garrick, Foote, Mrs. Abington, Mrs. Yates, and others, in character.
Fable illustrations from Æsop and others were largely printed, and some of Wedgwood's plates have been decorated in red, with fable subjects some five inches square, which, in spite of the festoons in which they are set, cannot escape from seeming what they are--square tile-subjects applied to the decoration of a round plate--and the result is not pleasing.
Among the signed pieces of Sadler and of Green, if any difference in style can be discerned in the results, it is indicated by the subjects they chose. Sadler's name appears on pastoral subjects with luxurious foliage and with dainty rustic scenery, while Green seems to have had a fondness for Oriental groups with a framework of fantastic furniture. The best collection of Liverpool delft in this country is in the museum at Liverpool.