5,741
edits
John C. Loring: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
No edit summary |
No edit summary |
||
| Line 191: | Line 191: | ||
file:1910as.jpg | file:1910as.jpg | ||
</gallery> | </gallery> | ||
---- | ---- | ||
<center>'''PREFACE TO THE FOURTH, ‘ADDENDUM’ VOLUME'''</center> | |||
This is the fourth and final volume of a compilation of Dunhill catalogs initially published three years ago in as many volumes. It is an addendum of important catalogs acquired since that publication together with my working set of twenty nine Dunhill pipe related English patents granted between 1904 and 1940. As with the preceding volumes the material has been scanned at high resolution, reduced to two catalog pages per addendum page and laser printed on high quality paper. | |||
The initial catalog in this addendum dates to 1917. It was Dunhill’s first major catalog effort, including, in the original, a few full color pages. It covers the entire Dunhill product line of the period, including all then offered pipe shapes. While the Dunhill archives contain earlier catalogs this is the key entry for the 1910’s period. Scanned from the original, with the numerous price and inventory changes over the 1917 – 1919 period of use carefully pasted in, it is likely that the original was a counter copy at the Duke Street shop, perhaps even perused by Alfred himself. | |||
The second short catalog dating to 1920/1921 is quite similar to a slightly later one in the initial compilation set. It is included in this addendum because it has a better shape chart and has been scanned from an original as opposed to the previous entry which was taken from a poor Xerox. | |||
The third entry is a pipe shape catalog dating to the early 1930s and intended for pipe shop use. It shows in numeric and alphabetical order the complete shape line of the day in outline form, including a great many letter denoted quaint shapes. I have found it to be my most commonly used ‘everyday’ working resource because of its ease of use and completeness. Another later, similar, catalog was included in the initial compilation but it is not near as complete, especially with regard to lettered quaint shapes. Indeed between the 1917 catalog and this one, this addendum offers a greater and more systemic coverage of the 125 + letter shapes then all three previously published volumes taken together. | |||
The fourth entry is a unique American Dunhill catalog dating to circa 1943. World War II and its aftermath is almost completely without catalogs. The Dunhill archives for instance have only four somewhat similar catalogs dating to 1948 and 1949 for the entire decade and did not even know of the existence of the American 1943 issue. Most likely reflecting the scarcities of the times, the included catalog is the only Dunhill catalog that I know of to include an offering of Parker branded pipes. | |||
The final two catalog entries are the 1952 and 1953 Xmas issues. Besides reflecting that even in the early 1950’s Dunhill was still recovering from the war of almost a decade earlier, the importance of these catalogs is that they represent the initial inclusions of the post-war ODA pipe series. Since the 1953 entry is from a Xerox and is very similar in content to that of the previous year only the pipe pages are included here. | |||
The cumulative contents and index of the earlier three volume set has been undated to include this addendum. The shape number index effectively serves as the most complete ‘shape chart’ available for the Dunhill ‘patent years’ period, and further allows the reader to both generally date the availability of any given shape and gauge which ones Dunhill sought to promote. | |||
Lastly, the reader will find copies of Dunhill’s twenty nine pipe related English patents granted between 1904 and 1940, including those going to heat treatment/oil curing equipment. I have crossed checked with the Dunhill archives and I believe this represents full coverage as regards pipes. This is my working set acquired over the years so a few of the less important are represented by official abstracts only and one or two others are missing pages. In any event however, they represent twice the number of patents previously reported. | |||
While I have never found a catalog that didn’t offer at least a scrap of new information, I believe that with this addendum the now four volume compilation of Dunhill catalogs from 1910 through 1960 effectively offers the reader the most complete picture of this period to be found outside of the Dunhill archives. Indeed save for a few early catalogs from 1911 – 1916 perhaps as complete a picture as might be obtained from a visit and free access to those very archives, in fact arguably in limited respects, even a better one. | |||
This compilation project began when I initially sought to write about the Dunhill ‘patent years’, i.e. 1910 – 1954, and found a dearth of readily available source material. It reflects both my efforts to develop those resources for myself and to effect an internet like, wide spread repository of the same for others in the future, not dependent upon any one individual or company. With this addendum I believe that project is complete. '''John C. Loring, March 2002.''' | |||