Rosalie is the author of two memories, three books on ceramics, and editor of Growing up Jewish.
Me & Issy is a love story about how a troubled and deprived child grew up and chanced to meet a man who worshipped her, brought her a fantasy life of four boys and extraordinary opulence — and banished her self-doubt. She in turn was awestruck and mystified by his acumen and daring during his founding of the Four Seasons Hotels.
Rifke (Rosalie Sharp) grew up in North Toronto, which felt to her like a foreign place because there were no other Jewish families there in the late 1930s. Yiddish was spoken in her household, and the food, dress, and customs of Ozarow — the Polish shtetl (small Jewish town) from which her parents emigrated — were all maintained. Rifke’s peers took lessons in tap-dancing, ice-skating, the piano, and the flute; activities that didn’t translate into the Yiddish vocabulary at the Wises, where only hard work, no nonsense, and book-learning were permitted.
An affectionate journey into the 18th century world of Johnson and Boswell as the context for the Sharp collectionIn this gorgeously illustrated book, Rosalie Sharp looks at the society in which her collection of porcelain and pottery was produced in England in the 1700s. Her contemporary witnesses include the diarists Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, letter writers Horace Walpole and Mary Delany and a host of other raconteurs and travelers. These accounts, together with her own extensive reading, have enabled her to write a lively story of the daily life of the period – from food, dress and sexual escapades, to country houses, grand tours, crime, religious and racial prejudice.
Rosalie Sharp has been collecting earthenware and pottery for over half a century, and in that time has amassed one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. With two lavishly produced catalogues, Sharp shares her collection, illustrated with over 1,000 full-colour photos and accompanied by provenance, fascinating historical connections, and personal anecdotes.
Volumes one & two
Fascinating stories from Canadian jewish families.
Edited by Rosalie Sharp.