The Directory of Gold & Silversmiths: Jewellers & Allied Trader 1838–1914 from the London Assay Office Registers. 2 Vols

Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collector's Club, 2000. Reprint. Hardcover. Fine.. Quarto. xlvi, 504, viii, 391 (1)pp. Original illustrated dustjackets, black lettering on spine, over gray cloth with gilt lettering on covers and spines. Gray endpapers. "The Directory covers the period when Great Britain was the foremost industrial country of the world. London, as a flourishing port, the capital city of a great empire, attracted manufacturing gold and silversmiths, retailers and allied traders from all over the country to register their marks at its assay office, Goldsmiths' Hall. John Culme of Sotheby's was given access to the Registers at Goldsmiths' Hall (truncated) and from his twelve years of intensive research of these and other records of the period, the biographies which make up Volume I have been compiled." (Publisher). John Culme's introduction is illustrated with b/w photographs of places and objects pertinent to his. The biographies introduced in Volume I are complimented by a complete list of marks of respective Gold & Silversmiths' in Volume II. Dustjackets with minor wear, binding and interior in fine condition. (Inventory #: 44305)