Best New Pottery and Ceramic Books 2026

This post is a round up of the best and most interesting new books on ceramics and pottery published in 2026. The books include artist monographs, technique, glaze recipes, material science, ceramic history, and more.

You might also want to check out our previous guides from 2024 or 2023.

Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes

A survey of Butterly’s ceramic work from 1994 to the present, this monograph accompanies the recent exhibition at The Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York. The book includes more than 200 artworks in full color showing the full range of Butterly’s experimental, sensuous works that draw on and reinvent the vessel tradition.

Kathy Butterly: Assume Yes
Edited by Ian Berry with contributions from Kathy Butterly, Forrest Gander, Theodora Bocanegra Lang, and Nancy Princenthal
Harcover, 320 pages
Published August 11, 2026 by DelMonico Books
$65

Doyle Lane: Master of Clay

The first ever monograph of the Los Angeles-based artist who passed in 2002, the book details Lane’s work in tile murals, pottery, and his well-known “weed pots” or small vessels with textured, inventive glazes that can hold a single strand of grass or a small weed. Published with The Huntington Museum, the book traces Lane’s entire life and career.

Doyle Lane: Master of Clay
with contributions by Lauren Cross, Erin Chase, Cynthia Folette Jackson, and Theresa Williams
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published September 22, 2026 by Marquand Books
$40

Manu-Facture: Lucio Fontana’s Ceramics

This catalog includes more than 70 ceramics works by the famed Italian / Argentinian artist, who made ceramics throughout his life, particularly in the last half of his career. The catalog accompanied an exhibition at The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy from late 2025 through early 2026, which was one of the first exhibitions devoted solely to Fontana’s ceramic production.

Manu-Facture: Lucio Fontana’s Ceramics
Edited by Sharon Hecker with contributions from Raffaele Bedarida, Luca Bochicchio, Elena Dellapiana, Aja Martin, Paolo Scrivano, and Yasuko Tsuchikane
Hardcover, 224 Pages
Published April 7, 2026 by Marsilio Arte
$40

Ceramic Oxides: A Practical Guide with 740+ Recipes for Artist

Ceramic Oxides A Practical Guide by Philippe PIrard cover image with a swirling gray green image and four test tiles on the front

A guide for ceramic artists, this book covers a huge number of recipes based on 33 different oxides. Included are images of test tiles, giving a practical reference for those looking for recipes, along with advice for exploring your own oxides recipes.

Ceramic Oxides: A Practical Guide with 740+ Recipes for Artist
by Philippe Pirard
Hardcover, 144 pages
Published August 25, 2026 by Hoaki
$34

Material Matters: An Artist’s Guide to Understanding Ceramic Materials
by Linda Bloomfield and Linda Swanson

Material Matters: An Artist's Guide to Understanding Ceramic Materials cover image with clay pinch pots on a black plinth, test bars, and small bowls hung on the wall in a grid

For those interested in material science, this book explains and breaks down materials, clay, and glaze recipes to give a full picture of what is happening in ceramic works. With full color illustrations and charts throughout.

Material Matters: An Artis’t Guide to Understanding Ceramic Materials
by Linda Bloomfield and Linda Swanson
Hardcover, 240 pages
Published September 29, 2026 by Herbert Press
Listed at $45 but usually available for less

The Pot Book: A Global Survey of Ceramic Craft and Design

The Pot Book 2026 by Edmund de Waal with an outline of a pot in orange and brick red and greyish pink at the top and white at the bottom

Curated by ceramic artist and writer Edmund de Waal, this book gathers more than 300 ceramics spanning thirty thousand years including many works from present day. This is an updated, new version of the book so you may also find older used copies of previous editions for sale.

The Pot Book: A Lobal Survey of Ceramic Craft and Design
By Edmund de Waal with contributions by Claudia Clare and Sam McGuire
Hardcover, 320 Pages
Published October 14, 2026 by Phaidon Press
$60

Breaking Traditions The Avant-Garde in Japanese Ceramics 1948-1990 book cover featuring a textured ceramic tile with a broken seam down the middle

Breaking Tradition: The Avant-Garde in Japanese Ceramics 1948 to 1990

Breaking Tradition: The Avant-Garde in Japanese Ceramics 1948 to 1990
by Andreas Marks and Kida Takuya
Paperback, 144 pages
Published October 6, 2026 by Tuttle Publishing
$30

Luminous Clay

Part of the ongoing series, The New Ceramics from Bloomsbury, this book details a new technique the author developed of turning bone china into paperclay, transforming and opening up the possibilities of whiteness and translucency.

Check out all the books in The New Ceramics here.

Luminous Clay: Working with Bone China and Porcelain Paperclay
by Angela Mellor
Paperback, 192 pages
Published March 10, 2026 by Bloomsbury / Herbert Press
Listed at $35 but usually available for less.

Glaze Inspirations: A Photographic Guide to Glaze Practice & Surface Techniques

Louisa Taylor, the author behind The Ceramics Bible, Ceramics Masterclass, and Glazes for the Contemporary Maker, is back with a new book featuring photographs by Simon Punter. The book explores more than 800 illustrated glaze examples, providing photographic reference along with glaze theory and application methods.

Click here to read our look inside Ceramics Masterclass.

Glaze Inspirations: A Photographic Guide to Glaze Practice & Surface Techniques
by Louisa Taylor and Simon Punter
Paperback, 176 pages
Published August 25, 2026 by The Crowood Press
Listed at $28

Exploring Crystalline Glazes

Some potters really connect with this technique and this book provides an introduction to materials, recipes, and firing techniques to create these almost otherworldly crystalline structures within a glaze surface. Author Diane Creber has an earlier book which contains much of the same info, but this is a new edition that is part of Bloomsbury’s series, The New Ceramics.

Exploring Crystalline Glazes
by Diane Creber
Paperback, 192 pages
Published July 14, 2026 by Bloomsbury / Herbert Pres
$34

Glazes Uncovered: A Practical Handbook for Ceramic Enthusiasts

A complete overview of glazes by Belgian potter and glaze specialist Sofie Goethals, this illustrated book covers all aspects of glaze materials, development, and application.

Click here to see an instagram reel of the author and a preview video of the book.

Glazes Uncovered: A Practical Handbook for Ceramic Enthusiasts
by Sofie Goethals
Hardcover, 272 pages
Published December 1, 2026 by Lannoo Publishers
$80

Throwing Clay: The Art of Making Pottery on the Wheel

One of three books published this year in Bloomsbury’s series, The New Ceramics, this book covers wheel throwing and pottery making. Click here to see an Instagram video of the author flipping through the pages. It’s a nicely illustrated book that adds to the growing number of volumes covering wheelthrowing.

Throwing Clay: The Art of Making Pottery on the Wheel
by Rebecca Proctor
Paperback, 192 pages
Published May 19, 2026 by Herbert Press / Bloomsbury
$35