some more tea

'a cup of tea' by the super great grace lee.

i have read some good books lately on the art of lexicography and the history of the OED. most recently i enjoyed boswell's the life of samuel johsnon. it is great stuff if you are into period biographies on literary characters (all those hordes of you).

samuel johnson quickly emerged as my favourite of the many excellent, eccentric, polymathic characters who populate the history of the OED and the literary world of 18th and 19th century britain. the below quote is from johnson's review of hanway on tea. the review was originally published in the literary magazine 2, no. 13 (1757), and to my delight in it johnson describes himself as:

'a hardened and shameless tea-drinker who for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion of the fascinating plant; who with tea amused the evening, with tea solaced the midnight, and with tea welcomed the morning'.

below are nanbu tetsubin ironware teapots via keibunsha. you can see similar in english here and information on the history of nanbu tetsubin here. at end is a nice ironware teapot via dedece plus (i spied it in the most recent insideout issue).

classic ironware maker nanbu tesubin via keibunsha

covo iron teapot via dedece plus