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Brass Furniture Hardware Trade Catalogue

Date1770-1780

MediumBlack and white line engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 18.1 x 28.6 x 1.6cm (7 1/8 x 11 1/4 x 5/8in.)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2012-165

DescriptionPrinted and bound (later leather binding) brass hardware catalogue containing examples of brass furniture hardware (drawer pulls, escutcheons, knobs, bolts, locks, latches, tea table latches, hinges, hooks, castors, bed bolt covers, brass upholstery tacks, screws, wheels for window and or bed curtain pullies, rings, clock hardware (capitals, bases), feet for boxes or bracket clocks, hanging hardware for looking glasses, screws for dressing glasses, candle sconce sockets) as well as [window] sash fasteners, jamb hooks (chimney bows), bells and bell pull parts, gun rings, and furniture ornaments marked with catalogue (or stock) number and price per unit.
Label TextTrade catalogues became increasinly popular at the end of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Birmingham, England brass foundries produced catalogues like this example in order to market their products to a broader region. While there is no known evidence of American cabinetmakers ordering brass furniture hardware from catalogues like this, the Gillows firm in Lancaster, England noted their mid to late-18th century orders for brass hardware using the stock numbers located next to each item on the printed page suggesting they likely had access to a catalogue of this sort.
InscribedInside book cover has "Ted Crom/Melrose FLA/1991" written in ink.

The inside front page has written in pencil, "This catalogue dates circa 1770-1780. The number 'Carta 1817' is the individual number of this catalogue, not the date. See Crom 'An Eighteenth Century English Brass Hardware Catalogue' for the explaination of the book number. Ted Crom/ July 16, 2002/ See also Crom TRADE CATALOGUES, Pages 159 to 164 for a more extensive discussion of catalogue book numbers."