Furniture Trade Cards Of Old London
November 13, 2023
Jonathan Pryce will read my short story ‘On Christmas Day’ at the launch at Burley Fisher Books in Haggerston on Thursday 23rd November at 6:30pm.
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The Gentle Author picks up the threads of Christmas fiction from Charles Dickens, Dylan Thomas and George Mackay Brown to weave a compelling tale of family conflicts ignited and resolved in the festive season.
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It is my pleasure to show this selection of old furniture trade cards which had fallen down the back of a hypothetical armoire.
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
You may like to see my earlier selections
Furniture Trade Cards of Old London
More Furniture Trade Cards of Old London
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Even More Trade Cards of Old London
2 Responses
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I imagine a little dusty toy theater, an old one, and there is a worn bit of striped cloth that serves as a curtain. Someone out of view wobbles some strings and the curtain comes UP, revealing a stage setting of a random interior. No paper characters appear. They’re still off-stage, striking their fixed poses. But tiny cut-out chairs, breakfronts, armoires, and curtain swags stand all about the stage. Some brilliant child has mounted some old trade cards onto cardboard and used scissors to fussy-cut the little furnishings. Each piece of scenery has gotten a little “stand up” tab, to hold it upright. There’s a lot of hushed whispering, behind the scenes. And everyone awaits the play.
This is very relevant for me because my father was a cabinet-maker whose workshop was always at the edge of the Spitalfields area. How sad that he did not live to see furniture-making so commemorated!