There have been four main books which discuss and catalogue the silks of the Victorian period of the late 1800's and early 1900's.
Of these, three mainly detail, with pictures, the various silks produced by Thomas Stevens. Only one, that of Godden, catalogues the silks of other manufacturers, principally Grant, and also provides extensive history of this fascinating subject.
Much that we know of the silk weavers of the time is due to the Godden book, and the very many contributors who made this work so extensive, and an essential reference source. Much of this web site is drawn from the Godden book.
Chris Radley wrote a series of books discussing the various silk postcards produced in the UK and Europe. His research refined the Godden catalogue of both Stevens and Grant postcards, and listed for the first time various titles of the Stevens Alpha Series cards.
In addition to these published works, I am greatly indebted to Mr John High, a collector in the USA. He has very kindly given me access to his own, un-published catalogue of Victorian silks. This catalogue greatly extended Radley's list of the Alpha Series cards produced by Stevens, and John's list also greatly extends the ships and Hands Across the Sea postcards listed by Godden.
Lewis Cowen has published a booklet (in early 2001) which discusses in detail the history of the Brocklehurst Fabric weavers. Whilst Godden lists Brocklehurst titles, Cowen extends this list up to the final silk produced by Brocklehurst, and contains colour photographs and technical details of all of the Brocklehurst woven pictures. This booklet is now out of print.
There follows a list of all people who have kindly contributed to the development of this catalogue of Stevengraphs, Grant and Other Victorian silk weavers, or who have kindly donated images of the silks:-
| Carole Clarke: |
Carole's grandfather and an uncle both worked for Brough Nicholson & Hall, in Leek, Staffordshire before the war. Carole has provided the titles of most of the Brough, Nicholson & Hall silk bookmarks and images to go with the titles. |
| Graham Fulford: |
Graham kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmarks, I wish you a merry Christmas (words in wreath) and Happy (woven may flower) thy birthday be; the Brocklehurst-Whiston Amalgamated picture, The Spinning Wheel, and the E. Bollans & Co. bookmark, A FRIEND'S BLESSING. |
| Sarah Hall: |
Sarah kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, A merry Christmas and a Happy New Year / Home for the holidays. |
| Lucy Topp: |
Lucy kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, Buy your own cherries. |
| Mary Dodd: |
Mary kindly donated images of the Brocklehurst-Whiston Amalgamated pictures, Avro York, Queen's Silver Jubilee, Little Moreton Hall, Gawsworth Hall, Capesthorne Hall, The Old King's Head, St. Paul's Cathedral and The Kings School. |
| Georg Hartong: |
Georg kindly donated in excess of 80 images of Thomas Stevens' bookmarks. |
| Anna Kasl: |
Anna kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, To my dear wife. |
| Derek Horsfield: |
Derek kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, To a friend / Of all the gifts which heaven bestows. |
| Mary Martin: |
Mary kindly donated an image of the Brough, Nicholson & Hall bookmark, Coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937. |
| Tim Jones: |
Tim kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, A Wish / O may you e'er in peace abide. |
| Anne Hurst: |
Anna kindly donated an image of Charles Newsome's bookmark: Victoria & Albert 1862. |
| Brian Grice: |
Brian kindly donated an image of the Thomas Stevens' bookmark, In Commemoration of the Testimonial to Sir Moses Montefiore. . . / (finding of Moses) / Pray for the Peace. |
| Tina Joyce: |
Tina kindly donated an image of the John Caldicott's Scenic view of Coventry
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| Steve Snook: |
Steve kindly donated an image of The Late Fred Archer, in the Duke of Westminster colours
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| A Walker: |
Altea kindly donated an image of the Welch & Lenton Bookmark - The Little Gleaner.
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| Michael Fowler: |
Michael kindly donated an image of the Welch & Lenton Bookmark - With Best Wishes - The Bible! The Bible! . ..
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| Mike Strong: |
Mike kindly donated an image of the Bollans Bookmark - H.R.H. Princess Louise Marquis . . . married March 1871
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| Paul Singer: |
Paul, of www.militarysilks.co.uk, has provided me with excellent examples of two Stevens royal favours, and four Grant favours, none of which was previously recorded.
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| Beryl Kenyon de Pascual: |
Beryl kindly donated an image of the Stevens Bookmark - My dear mother / What'er my lot in life - which had previously been an unrecorded title.
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| Georg Hartong: |
Georg, as well as the donation above relating to Stevens' bookmarks, has also kindly donated eight images of John Caldicott silks. |
| Wayne Gebhardt: |
Wayne kindly donated an image of the Stevens Bookmark - Morning hymn / Awake my soul, and with the sun.
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| Mrs G Buckingham: |
Mrs Buckingham has kindly donated images of the John Osborne and C. Wood Stevens Portraits.
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| John Sykes: |
John has provided me with an image of the Brocklehurst-Whiston silk of The Gawsworth Old Rectory.
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| Alan Dutton: |
Alan has provided me with an image of the Welch & Lenton bookmark, A HAPPY BIRTHDAY / MAY SUCCESS . .
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| Mary Brittan: |
Mary has provided me with excellent quality images of all the previously missing Brocklehurst-Wiston (BWA) silk pictures.
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| Susan Chatila: |
Susan has provided me with an excellent quality image of the Grant Souvenir of the
Franco British Exhibition (gb1980) ribbon.
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| Georg Hartong: |
Georg continues to provide extensive support to this site by donating several excellent quality images of Grant bookmarks and ribbons.
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| Bill Birch: |
Bill has provided me with an excellent quality image of the Stevens bookmark - Jesus hear and save.
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| Ali Besiroglu: |
Ali has provided me with an excellent quality image of the Stevens bookmark - Forget me not / May heaven's blessings be with thee.
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| Allan Swan: |
Allan has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the vary scarce Stevens picture - Royal Jubilee Exhibition, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1887.
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| Marilyn Studholme: |
Marilyn has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the Welch & Lenton bookmark, BIRTHDAY GREETING / (flowers) / I wish this day . .
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| Colin Harding: |
Colin has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the Grant bookmark, Greetings from the Scottish Exhibition Glasgow 1911 / Lead Kindly Light, which had not previously been recorded.
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| Rachel Andrews: |
Rachel has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the Caldicott bookmark, Her Royal Highness The Princess Alice, and the unknown King George V & Queen Mary favour.
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| Alison Shone: |
Alison has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the Welch & Lenton bookmark, TO A DEAR FRIEND / Sweet and peaceful.
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| Georg Hartong: |
Georg continues to provide extensive support to this site by donating several excellent quality images, including two Stevens bookmarks, and two Slingsby ribbons, one of which was previously unrecorded.
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| Sheila Langston: |
Sheila has kindly provided me with an excellent quality image of the rare Stevens silk picture, st644 - Ye Old Crown House.
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| Carol Syms: |
Brough, Nicholson & Hall, in 1935, produced a leather writing case with a silk on the front and another on the back. Carol has provided me with excellent quality images of the two silks on this rare and unusal use of silk pictures.
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| Ian Sharp: |
Ian has kindly provided me with excellent quality images of two Stevens silk pictures, st96 - Coventry Old and New; and it's sister silk, st596 - Warwickshire Old and New.
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| John Sharp: |
John has kindly provided me with excellent quality images of sb2660 - Woven in the Machinery Department, Crystal Palace / The late Sir Joseph Paxton Stevens bookmark.
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| Alex Merseburger: |
Alex has kindly provided me with three excellent quality images; one of the Bollans bookmark
obo464 - MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY / (flowers) / My heart breathes . .; and two Stevens bookmarks of sb2540 - With best wishes / Hope the (woven anchor) of the soul and sb1441 - Morning hymn / Awake my soul, and with the sun (with clover leaf design). The title, sb1441 is new to the Stevens catalogue.
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| Gillian Cooper: |
Gillian kindly provided me with an extensive list of the Brough Nicholson & Hall silks. This list was derived from her own personal knowledge of the Leek weaver and experiences of close friends and relatives. Gillian also provided me with various images to accompany the titles.
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| Stef Callear: |
Stef has also given me various images to add to the newly formed catalogue. These included an image of one of the very earliest BN&H bookmarks - obn8 : Laying of the Corner Stone of the Leek Technical School July 24 1899 (with signature of Millicent Sutherland, Her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland).
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| Alan Cunningham: |
Alan has kindly supplied me with an image of the Darlinson & Barton silk, odr4 - Portrait: H. R. Highness Albert Edward Prince of Wales. Darlinson had not previously been recorded on this site, and has now been added with this silk.
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| Paul Wood Antiques, Harrogate, Great Britain: |
Paul has supplied images of the Stevens silk bookmark, sb128 - A blessing / Oh fair and flowry / . . .and those that love thee, together with the diamond registration mark on the rear.
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| Liz Bartlett: |
Liz has kindly supplied me with multiple images of Stevens, Bollans and Welch & Lenton silk bookmarks. Of these the Bollans bookmark, obo56 - A BLESSING / (flowers) / Let My Blessing . ., is a new addition to the catalogue. Liz has also given me close up images of the front and back of the Shakespeare button.
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| Dougie Melville: |
Dougie has kindly supplied me with a previously unrecorded Slingsby sash, now in the catalogue as osl17 - Scarf, ribbon or sash with words 'Ancient Order of Free Gardeners'.
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| G. Deplanque: |
G. Deplanque has also enhanced the Slingsby catalogue, with the previously unrecorded osl62 - Sash with words 'M.U. / O.F. Friendship, Love and Truth'.
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| Anne Elliott: |
Anne too has added a previously unrecorded Slingsby to the catalogue, being a different design, osl65 - Sash with words 'O.F.M.U. Friendship, Love and Truth'.
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| William Scoular Donnelly: |
William was a passionate collector of antiques, and his relatives have donated the image of the following Slingsby ribbon on Williams behalf: osl52 - Ornate ribbon with words 'Independent Order of Rechabites. Salford Unity' (registered 15 October 1888, No. 111417).
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| The Lancaster Public Library, Lancaster, PA: |
The curator of The Lancaster Public Library has kindly sent me the image of the Stevens bookmark, sb2392 - 'Trust in Jesus / Happy, Saviour, would I be', the silk of which is in their collection.
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| György Tóth: |
György has a fantastic collection of antique sawing machines and accessories. He also has a collection of Stevens silk pictures. As well as sending me fascinating pictures of his sawing machine collection, György also sent me images of ten of the Stevengraphs - eight of these being for titles which were previously recorded in the cataglogue, but without images. One of the images provided by György is of a very rare triple title silk: st678 - THE PRESENT TIME / AUJOURD 'HUI / JETZT.
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| Georg Hartong: |
Georg has several references above, although as he continues to supply many new images, and thereby supports this web site to a very large extent, I am only too pleased to once again acknowledge his fantastic contribution which has greatly extended our knowledge of Stevens, Grant, Welch & Lenton and Bollans bookmarks.
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| Acknowledgement is made to Eric Quayle's book "The Collector's Book of Books" for the image of Thomas Stevens' bookmark, Handel Festival / (wreath which reads: 'Sacred Harmonic Society') / Crystal Palace, June 1862, and to the bookmark, Married at St. George's Chapel Windsor March 10th 1863, and to the bookmark, The Blessing / (open book of Numbers & Chap VII) / The Lord bless thee. |
