Product Details
CHARLES LANCASTER
THE MAKER'S FIRST SALES LEDGER COVERING THE INITIAL 21 YEARS OF TRADING,
covering dates from 8th June 1826 to the 5th April 1847, listing his customers from when he started his gunmaking business at 151 New Bond Street, London W.1. The ledger measures 15in. x 10in., has 897 pages with a 24 page index of customers' names and is half-leather bound with heavy card endboards. The first entry in the sales ledger is dated 8th June 1826 and the last entries are dated 5th April 1847, the date of Charles Lancaster's death, when accountants closed the books and required clients to settle their accounts.
Provenance: The ledger provides an interesting insight into Charles Lancaster's client base and is a veritable 'who's who' of the nobility and aristocracy during the first half of the 19th Century. The ledger has been kept neatly with all entries in fine copperplate.
The index shows that Lancaster was patronised by a great number of old families, some of whom, it shows, spent a good deal of money with him. There are many names of note but space will not allow for an exhaustive list. However, some of the immediately recognisable ones include: H.R.H. Prince Albert, H.R.H. The Duke of Cambridge, H.S.H. The Prince of Saxe-Weimar, The Prince of Furstenberg, the Dukes of Bedford, Marlborough and Buccleuch, various senior members of the Baring, Rothschild, Walpole and Farquhar families, the Marquises of Hastings, Tavistock and Blandford, Lord Rivers, Sir John Trollope, Bt. (Anthony Trollope's cousin), the Earls of Cadogan and Winchilsea (the Finch-Hatton family, later of 'Out of Africa' fame), Viscount Palmerston, Sir Robert Peel, P.M. and Lt.-Col. Peter Hawker.
The ledger shows moderate rubbing to the leatherwork and a deal of foxing to the pages, all commensurate with age and use. However, it is all perfectly legible and is holding firm throughout.
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Estimate £3,000-4,000