[ War Department contractors 1858 ]10 printed items] Schedule of Contract for Carpenters' [Bricklayers'; Slaters'; Plasterers'; Plumbers'; Painters'; Glaziers'; Smiths'; Cast-iron and Metal] Work for the Service of the War Department, [...]

The collection is of great interest, providing a mass of information regarding the Victorian building trade. The owner of the volume, W. H. Dudley, would appear to be a War Office official, and, as described at the end of this entry, it contains manuscript details of two contracts. The ten printed schedules - totalling [34 + 17 + 14 + 10 + 12 + 13 + 12 + 10 + 16 + 11 =] 149 pp., folio - are uniform in design and format, bound together in a contemporary half-binding, with brown leather spine and corners, and marbled boards. All ten are in good condition, on lightly-aged paper, in worn binding. Inscription across front endpapers: 'W. H. Dudley. | Contractors' Schedule. | 1859. 59.' Each of the ten schedules is headed: 'N.B. - Tenders will be received at the War Office, Pall Mall, London, on or before the [blank] | The Secretary of State for War reserves to himself the right of rejecting the whole or any of the Tenders. | No notice will be taken of any Tender, unless upon the proper printed form.' Each begins with extensive 'Terms of Contract', followed by several pages of 'General regulations and specifications for the work.' These are followed by a detailed description of the specifics, with the cost of 'Materials and Labour' under a number of headings. As an example, in the case of plastering, costings are given for 'Rendering', 'Lathing and plastering', 'Stucco', 'Cementing with half Roman cement and half sand', 'Rough casting on brick', 'Cornices and mouldings in plaster of Paris', 'Friezes and soffits;, Cornices and mouldings in roman cement', 'Lime white and whitewashing', 'Colouring, including size', 'Sundries' and 'Day work and materials'. The recto of a flyleaf preceding the first schedule is filled with two manuscript notes in a contemporary hand. The top half of the page is headed 'Mr. Robert Stratton, Contractor for the Isle of Wight under contract dated 13 April 1858 | Portsmouth 1 | 121', and lists the percentage under the prices printed in the schedule' of eleven contracts, from 'Bricklayer' to 'Plasterer'. The lower part of the page is headed: 'George Wheeler Contractor for Hurst Castle - under contract dated 15 April 1858 | Portsmouth 1 | 126', and listing eleven contracts (again from 'Bricklayer' to 'Plasterer'), again with percentages of (four 'under' and seven 'at Schedule Prices'). Excessively scarce: no copy of any of the ten items on COPAC or in the National Archives.