Housed in the Bristol City Art Gallery and Museum, the A J Smith Collection is one of the finest and most extensive collections of Lund's Bristol and early Worcester Porcelain. It charts the development of the first two viable porcelain factories outside London. Although Lund's china house in Bristol was short-lived, ownership of his soaprock recipe passed up the Severn to Dr Wall's factory in Worcester, which recently celebrated over 250 years of continuous production. In this specially commissioned, ground-breaking study Simon Spero analyses for the first time the contents of this remarkable collection and presents a detailed breakdown of the different shapes and types of decoration. Particular care is given to the conclusions that can be drawn about the commercial strategy employed by the two enterprises in seeking to establish a niche in a fiercely competitive and volatile market. Two chapters by Richard Burt focus upon the socio-economic and political context in which the two factories were created and the numerous historical controversies which surround this critical period of English ceramics.