MAKERS

(1788) Letter, bifolium, , cr. 8vo, good condition, one page giving assurances as to quality, etc., with list (essentially a quote) of prices/features of A new Fashionable Chariot with a [?] light coloured cloth, Painted a Green [?] Patent yellow, made of the best materials & season'd timber, followed by a price list of various features (blinds, plated head plates, steps, strong plated harness, packing etc etc). See image. (1799) 1p., 4to, bifolium, very good, on lightly-aged paper.

The two items on aged and worn paper. ONE: Printed circular letter, printed in blue on firm's letterhead, with royal warrant in red at head. 1p., 4to. After boasting of the firm's prices compared with those of other firms, the letter boasts: 'We are the only firm in the world engaged in making bottled Cider and Perry on a large scale by the same processes in all respects as are employed in the production of the Sparkling Wines of Rheims and Epernay.

58 + [2]pp., 8vo. Frontispiece photograph of Queen Victoria, seated with a fan. In yellow wraps ornately printed in brown (discoloured gold?). Disbound from volume of pamphlets, with library stitching to spine and small '5' in ink at head of cover. Advertisements on wraps and final leaf. Descriptions of 479 fans (no illustrations), the first four lent by Queen Victoria. Four page index listing scores of lenders, including Mrs Leopold de Rothschild, Princess Louise, the Marchioness of Bristol, the Irish Lace Depot, the London Glove Company, and the Duchess of York.

Printed on both sides of a 4to (28 x 22.5cm) leaf of semi-opaque paper. Both sides with oval purple stamp of 'J. Blanch & Son, 29, Gracechurch St., London, Gun Makers'. In good condition, on lightly-aged paper, with one dog-eared corner, folded three times. An attractively-produced item, with specifications, and text printed in small type. Engraving of a bullet in top right-hand corner of first page, with the Colt prancing horse at top left, also a small engraving of the rifle, with a larger one, by R. M. Smart, showing how 'To Charge the Magazine'.

12mo, 2 pp. Bifolium. Written out in one hand, and signed 'Bradley & Co' in another. Addressed to 'W. F. Stocks Esqre | Glen Elwy | St Asaph. | Flint[shire]'. Thirteen lines. Text clear and complete. On foxed and lightly-aged paper. Giving the firm's 'charge for receiving unpacking & delivering pictures to the R.A. or other London Exhibitions' and for 'collecting repacking & forwarding', as well as the dimensions of pictures for which these charges apply.

According to the British Library Bisset's Directory was published in 1800. Paper dimensions roughly 5 1/4 inches by 9 inches; print dimensions roughly 4 1/4 inches by 7 inches. In very good condition although somewhat grubby. Paper watermarked '<179?>9 | TMAN'. At head of plate: 'M'. At foot of plate: 'Reynolds. Sct. Birm'.

Long and unusually entertaining account 'Re Varnish', addressed to an American correspondent. A fascinating insight into the nature of Victorian entrepreneurship. 'It has long been an idea of mine that of all the Trades the most profitable one is Varnish [...] the Germans, clever as they are, can't make Varnish at all [...] nor for that matter can the Americans'.