author
Alfred B. (Alfred Broadhead) Searle
1877–1967
A prolific writer on clays, bricks, ceramics, and other industrial materials, this British technical author helped explain the science behind everyday building and manufacturing. His books brought specialized subjects within reach of practical readers as well as students.
1 Audiobook
The Natural History of Clay
by Alfred B. (Alfred Broadhead) Searle
About the author
Born in 1877 and living until 1967, Alfred Broadhead Searle is remembered today mainly through a substantial body of technical writing. Library and archive records consistently identify him as Alfred B. Searle, and public-domain editions of his books show that he wrote on clay, brickmaking, refractories, colloids, sands, and related industrial subjects.
His best-known works include The Natural History of Clay, Clays and Clay Products, Modern Brickmaking, The Clayworker's Handbook, and An Encyclopedia of the Ceramic Industries. Taken together, these titles suggest a writer deeply engaged with the practical and scientific sides of ceramic and building materials, with a talent for organizing complex information into usable reference books.
Reliable biographical detail about his personal life appears to be limited in the sources readily available online, so it is safest to focus on the work itself: Searle stands out as a clear, industrious specialist author whose books preserved a great deal of early 20th-century knowledge about the ceramic and materials trades.