Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 19, 1995 TAG: 9503200002
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: G-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO BOOK PAGE EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
By H.E. Comstock. Published by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, N.C., distributed by the University of North Carolina Press. (price not listed).
This handsome book is a labor of love by H.E. Comstock. It's a history of ceramics production in the Shenandoah Valley - in this case defined as that area between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains with Botetourt County at its southern end and Franklin County, Pa. at the north - from 1750 to 1930. Comstock has been a collector and student of pottery since 1970. Virtually all of the objects he describes here are simply made, utilitarian pieces. Even the more elaborate decorative works, like the doorstop lion on the dust jacket, had everyday functions. Comstock's book traces the histories of the families and potters who made the work and, of course, the changes in the industry. Almost equal space is given to text and photographs, black and white and color.
In his preface, Comstock writes, "This book is mainly intended for and dedicated to collectors. Collecting Shenandoah pottery can be very rewarding; collecting objects that are ostensibly of the valley, but are in fact spuriously contrived or imported from other areas, can be very disconcerting. I hope that collectors will gain a working knowledge that will help them develop a sound program of acquisition and investment ... Finally, I have endeavored to present a representative array of the known production of the potters recorded here. I have also assembled a wealth of clues that together convey a glimpse of the personalities of these tradesmen. I hope you agree, after assimilating the material collected here, that the pottery of the Shenandoah Valley region holds a unique place in American ceramic history."
Peanut Soup and Spoonbread: An Informal History of Hotel Roanoke.
By Donlan Piedmont. Authorized by Virginia Tech Real Estate Foundation, Inc. $19.95 (trade paper).
Admittedly, this book can be seen as blatant civic boosterism, but so what? As one who has many pleasant memories of the hotel and looks forward to its return, I'm glad "Peanut Soup and Spoonbread" exists. In his warmly personal preface, Marshall Fishwick sums up the emotions that the place evokes for so many of us.
"'Would you like to have dinner at the hotel?'" he writes. "For a young Roanoker growing up during the Great Depression, that meant more than dinner at the Hotel Roanoke, it meant nearly heaven. In a time of austerity, it meant opulance. In a time of scarcity, it meant abundance. In a time of drabness, it meant beauty. Hotel Roanoke, on a high hill, smacked of another world. Dinner at the Hotel? Who wouldn't want to go to Camelot?"
The rest of the book tells the story of the building and the people who have worked in it since 1882. Donlan Piedmont's text aims for a tone somewhere between respect for the hotel as an institution and sometimes puckish wit. After all, how serious can one be about beauty pageants, business conventions and, if the picture is to be believed, a cattle auction held in the ballroom? (According to the caption, it was cleaned up and ready for the Roanoke Symphony Ball that evening.)
The photographs, mostly black and white with some color plates and reproductions of postcards, are well chosen to complement the text. Of course, recipes for the title dishes are included.
by CNB