“I, John Sadler, of Liverpoole, in the county of Lancaster, printer, and Guy Green, of Liverpoole aforesaid, printer, severally maketh oath, that on Tuesday, the 27th July, inst., they, these deponents, without the aid or assistance of any other person or persons, did, within the space of six hours, to wit, betwixt the hours of nine in the morning and three in the afternoon of the same day, print upwards of 1,200 earthenware tiles of different patterns, at Liverpoole aforesaid, and which, as these deponents have heard and believe, were more in number, and better, and neater than 100 skilful pot painters could have painted in the like space of time in the common and usual way of painting with a pencil; and these deponents say that they have been upwards of seven years in finding out the method of printing tiles, and in making tryals and experiments for that purpose, which they have now, through great pains and expense, brought to perfection.” Two printers doing the work of a hundred tile painters! The stupendous nature of the invention is seen in the light of this statement. Caxton never made a greater discovery when he set his type moving, and the illuminated manuscripts of the monks became the printed page in the hands of the common people. Josiah Wedgwood, with characteristic foresight, saw the value of the work of Sadler and Green, and his waggons made weekly journeys from Staffordshire up to Liverpool laden with his Queen’s ware to be decorated in the new style. [Illustration: [Established 1710]. [Pennington 1760]. [Transfer Printing] [1756] EARLY LIVERPOOL MARKS.] To come back to the controversy for a moment, it is claimed that Worcester was first to produce printed china. There is at the Bethnal Green Museum a printed mug of Worcester, dated 1757. It will be remembered that the date of Sadler and Green’s affidavit was 1756. But a claim is made for a third factory—Battersea. There is a letter from Horace Walpole to Bentley, dated 1755, in which he says: “I shall send you, too, a trifling snuff-box, only as a sample of the new manufacture of Battersea, which is done from copper-plates.” There are also dated pieces of this Battersea enamel with the design printed upon them, dated as early as 1753 and 1754. In all probability Worcester derived the secret from Battersea, as Robert Hancock, of Worcester fame, who signed some of the older pieces, was formerly an engraver at Battersea. [Illustration: LIVERPOOL MARKS (1756-1822).] In spite of this fact there is every reason for believing that at Liverpool, Sadler and Green independently discovered the art of printing on china, as their affidavit declares them to have been engaged upon it for seven years, which takes them back to 1749. [Illustration: LIVERPOOL MARKS (1822-1841).]