'The art of faience tile making had found its way from Arabic North Africa from where it had slowly progressed northward via Spain, Italy (mainly the city of Faenza, hence the French “faience”) and Antwerp to arrive about 1570 in the northern Dutch province of Friesland. The Royal Tichelaar Makkum from which the designs in this book originate is the oldest enterprise in the Netherlands and indeed ranks it among the oldest companies in the world. Many of the designs this factory has been using over the years have been compiled in an ancient volume kept in the historical collection of their archives, along with many examples of actual antique tiles. For the first time a selection of these has now been made available for publication in this book. < >' < >
