Comments on: Old Letterheads & Receipts From Whitechapel

By: Irene Potter

Irene Potter — Sun, 15 Mar 2020 09:32:38 +0000

Thank you so much for this weeks selection of vintage ephemera. Fascinates me to imagine the history attached to these documents. Always look forward to reading your blog.

By: Pamela Traves

Pamela Traves — Sat, 14 Mar 2020 00:54:34 +0000

Wonderful to see the old sales papers. It brings history alive!!?????????

By: Achim

Achim — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 14:54:32 +0000

A fascinating Collection of old Paper-Documents!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

By: RogerB

RogerB — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:10:19 +0000

Fantastic graphics!
I think the stamp was simply a form of tax, banks used to have to charge for cheques in the same way.
Pity there’s nothing from the Bell Foundry, it would be lovely to see the receipt for ‘Big Ben’. (I worked there in my gap year).

By: Peter Metaxas

Peter Metaxas — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:02:09 +0000

Fascinating! I was surprised how many manufacturers there once were; Tools, saws, scales, coachbuilders, furriers. The choice of words in our communication is so different now.
Very interesting series.

By: Colin Cohen

Colin Cohen — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 13:01:54 +0000

For Pimlico Pete: when a stamp had to be affixed it was signed across so it could not be used again.

‘Deliver to’ would be nice, but sadly just a DebtoR, so the same contraction as DoctoR

By: Pimlico Pete

Pimlico Pete — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 12:24:50 +0000

The notion of signing across a stamp isn’t unknown to this reader but I don’t remember why it was done. Did it offer a contractual obligation?

And “Dr to” would surely be “Deliver to”. Perhaps ideally delivered in a landau and pair just to impress the neighbours.

Friends in Singapore and Malaysia refer to the “chop”, the company or personal rubber stamp still widely used on paper documents. And its variant “to chope” — emphatically placing a small object, usually a small packet of tissues, to reserve a table space in a communal canteen or food court. “Why you steal my place, I chope it already!”

By: paul loften

paul loften — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:56:22 +0000

The stamp of authority and with a signature to boot. Just try and deny that you ever received those goods! By the way I’ m still looking for that parcel Amazon claimed to have delivered and left on my doorstep last week.

By: Lynne Perrella

Lynne Perrella — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:25:17 +0000

Delightful! Naturally, I appreciated the design aspect of the flourishes of the old fonts — but I really enjoyed seeing the more personal imprints and mark-making. The sturdy — thump! — of a rubber stamp, the scribble of a snub pencil “3 weeks”, the many and varied signatures, and the industrious check mark across the whole bill indicating………PAID in full. Paid, alas? Paid, on time? Paid by the skin of our teeth? I imagined the various dip pens, and ink wells, and desks full of cubby holes, and (what are they called?) sleeve protectors and green eye shades.

This is a magnificent collection — brimming with stories.
Thank you Philip Mernick and GA. (I hope a book on this collection is forthcoming. I’ll be first in line.)

By: Colin Cohen

Colin Cohen — Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:06:15 +0000

‘Dr to’ means ‘Debit to’ from memory, from debitor, I think