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Hi everyone,
Last summer when we were in England on holiday I found a really great book in an Oxfam charity book shop, published in 1991. It's called 'The Victorian Catalogue of Household goods' and describes itself as 'A Complete Compendium of over five thousand items to Furnish and Decorate the Victorian Home'. It is a facsimile of a trade catalogue published by the firm of Silber & Flemming of London and Paris. The author of the Introduction to the book is Dorothy Bosomworth and it was published by the New York firm of Portland House. The catalogue was first published in 1883 and this edition facsimile dates from "the late 1880s (the exact date is not given in the original)".
The firm of Silber & Flemming was founded in London in 1856. They were manufacturers, importers, warehousemen and agents. The catalogue was "comparable to Littlewoods' or Universal Stores' current mail-order catalogues". Their London premises were situated at 60 Wood Street in the City.
I quote from the Introduction now - "Who, then, were their customers? Without surviving company records, it is impossible to form a detailed impression, but we can assume that they consisted both of retailers, such as department stores, furnishing shops and ironmongers, china, silver and glass specialists, and of corporate clients"
On page 79 I came across the following: "Hunting Knife, very superior quality, with 7½-inch blade and 4-inch horn handle, diamond cut. This Knife is so constructed that the blade can be folded into the handle, where it is locked by a spring, leaving exposed 4 inches of the blade, which is protected by a best solid leather sheath".
Could this be a contender for the knife that Jack the Ripper used?
Carol
Last summer when we were in England on holiday I found a really great book in an Oxfam charity book shop, published in 1991. It's called 'The Victorian Catalogue of Household goods' and describes itself as 'A Complete Compendium of over five thousand items to Furnish and Decorate the Victorian Home'. It is a facsimile of a trade catalogue published by the firm of Silber & Flemming of London and Paris. The author of the Introduction to the book is Dorothy Bosomworth and it was published by the New York firm of Portland House. The catalogue was first published in 1883 and this edition facsimile dates from "the late 1880s (the exact date is not given in the original)".
The firm of Silber & Flemming was founded in London in 1856. They were manufacturers, importers, warehousemen and agents. The catalogue was "comparable to Littlewoods' or Universal Stores' current mail-order catalogues". Their London premises were situated at 60 Wood Street in the City.
I quote from the Introduction now - "Who, then, were their customers? Without surviving company records, it is impossible to form a detailed impression, but we can assume that they consisted both of retailers, such as department stores, furnishing shops and ironmongers, china, silver and glass specialists, and of corporate clients"
On page 79 I came across the following: "Hunting Knife, very superior quality, with 7½-inch blade and 4-inch horn handle, diamond cut. This Knife is so constructed that the blade can be folded into the handle, where it is locked by a spring, leaving exposed 4 inches of the blade, which is protected by a best solid leather sheath".
Could this be a contender for the knife that Jack the Ripper used?
Carol
"What our ancestors would really be thinking, if they were alive today, is: "Why is it so dark in here?"" From Pyramids by Sir Terry Pratchett, a British National Treasure. 
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