Lost Trades Nᵒ.16: Japanned Boxes and a Bilston Japanner's Design Book

Fig. 1.

Pages of a Bilston japanners design book from about 1761, held at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware, USA. It is thought to be from a Bilston maker as another book bought with it, from a later date, has 'Bilston' written on it. This pattern book is probably from the 1760s, though, as some of the designs (figs. 11-14) have designs celebrating the coronation of George III, which was on 22 September 1761. This is an excellent survival, as japanned boxes are liable to damage as the varnish and paint gets chipped away, so provides insight into what boxes might have looked like at this time, and many similar examples were made in Birmingham.

Lost Trades Nᵒ.13: Trade Catalogue for Knott's Marbled, Coloured and Fancy Papers (c. 1836)

Held at Birmingham Archive (8039734).

Beautiful marbled papers from the 1830s, produced by John M. Knott. The book is dated by the archive as an uncertain 1833, but John Morgan Knott was in partnership with Thomas Beilby and James Henry Beilby until June 1835, so this book was probably produced shortly after this date. In 1841 John Morgan Knott went bankrupt.

Many of Knott's fancy papers were manufactured in Bordesley, but the offices were at the old premises for Aris's Birmingham Gazette. A map of the Swan Hotel shows 'Mr. Knott's Printing Establishment' in 1836.

See examples below.

Lost Trades Nᵒ.12: The Trade Catalogue of Ford Whitmore & Brunton (c. 1775)

Held at Birmingham Archive, MS 3506.

This catalogue for Ford, Whitmore and Brunton (c. 1775) provides amazing insight into the tools of the eighteenth-century Birmingham jeweller and watchmaker, including the range of precision instruments which were being used.