The Bodleian and the Bottle Ovens

A compilation of places and pottery. Relationships and art. Culture and civilisation.

In this written and visual collection, award-winning poet Ailsa Holland weaves a narrative of two cities with two structures: one of literature and one of ceramics. Discover the connection between Oxford's Bodleian Library and Stoke-on-Trent's bottle ovens. Visit reading rooms where a love story blossoms. Hear of women who wish to fill themselves with books. Smell the smoke that created the pots, plates and figures within these poems made of clay. For poetry and pottery lovers alike, Holland shares the environments that shaped her and the art she holds dear.