Three albums of photographs (numbered 1-340) of books bound by Birdsall & Son, and of older books and manuscripts apparently repaired by them (nos 315-39A); one album containing more than eighty photographs of illuminated addresses produced by the firm; two small boxes containing numbered duplicate photographs of historic bindings, manuscripts and early printed books (see also boxes 18-19 below).
Press cuttings, 1856-1917, of articles on bookbindings; also included are draft artwork for an illuminated address, 1902, and a mounted copy of the cover of the Illustrated London News, Coronation number, 1937.
Miscellaneous material relating to the history of Birdsall & Son, including one illuminated and one printed roll of honour listing employees of Birdsall & Son who served in the armed forces, 1914-16, together with photographs of two other rolls and of four soldiers; photograph of a Birdsall works outing, [?1930s]; company Christmas cards, 1925-6, with proofs; letterheads and other publicity material, a copy of Moore's Almanack (1828) to which a prospectus for James Birdsall's business has been attached, and other items, early 20th century, containing Birdsall advertisements; prints and photocopies showing designs for and views of the Birdsall works as rebuilt in 1888, including the interior, and designs for letterheads and publicity material; printed leaflets, catalogues and offprints of articles containing references to Birdsall bindings, including the 1902 'Coronation Bible', and Sotheby's sale catalogue, 1 August 1983, describing (lots 1350-75) books formerly in the possession of Anthony Birdsall the younger.
Three sheets of tool sketches, 1906; fifteen sheets of inked tool impressions; six sheets of inked block impressions; some nineteen sheets of design layouts, mostly for the 'Coronation Bible', commissioned from the family for the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902 (see also boxes 3-4, 17); nine rubbings of Birdsall bindings with notes on costings, including one for a Kelmscott Chaucer, together with notes, 1929, relating to the latter, and samples of leather.
Photographs of illuminated addresses, numbered 1-84 (many items not present),
Materials compiled by Anthony Birdsall for lectures on the history of books and bookbinding, including files of notes, dummy rolls and codices, examples of methods of binding, samples of materials, including some taken from old bindings, and examples of insect damage to leather covers; correspondence, 1944-5, relating to the cover of the 'L.V.L.' roll, Shrewsbury School library; correspondence and related papers, [?1890s]-1910, concerning the purchase of rare books and prints by Anthony Birdsall and Herbert W. Birdsall.
Birdsall family papers including printed books, 1889-1907, formerly in the possession of family members, amongst them Amy Ruth Birdsall, her nephew, Anthony Birdsall the younger, and her niece, C. H. [Hetty] Birdsall, one item being collated and perhaps bound by Anthony Birdsall the younger; army instruction booklets and notebooks, 1915-17, formerly in the possession of Herbert William Birdsall and Anthony Birdsall the younger; family ephemera including three maps, late 19th century, of Devon, Epping Forest and the Isle of Wight, used during holidays by the Birdsall family (see also photograph albums below, box 27); miscellaneous items and ephemera, 1899-1904, including a printed certificate presented to Amy Birdsall, 1899, and notes on scripture in an unidentified hand; obituaries of Richard Birdsall (dec. 1909) and of his wife, Ellen Lucy Birdsall (dec. 1936); catalogue of the sale, 1972, of household effects of Anthony Birdsall the younger, and valuation of his books.
Four large photograph albums containing photographs, 1886-c. 1910, of members of the Birdsall family, at home and on holiday in England and Wales, and of a visit by one of them to Canada and the USA; also included are a few photographs of Birdsall employees, c. 1908-1947, apparently added by Archie Veryard, and two small albums, c. 1915-18, containing snapshots of South Africa and the Middle East, with a few photographs of Herbert William Birdsall, who served in Mesopotamia [Iraq] during the First World War.
Miscellaneous tool trials and trial boards, including some for the 'Coronation Bible' (see also boxes 2, 4, 17), and examples of gold- and blind-tooling and inlaying, together with leather samples; samples of leather marbling and treeing on calf, carried out by Anthony Birdsall, 1928-49, many of them annotated, and a copy of a patent specification, 1920, relating to the treeing process.
Papers relating to the history of Birdsall & Son, compiled by Mr Archie Veryard, including a file containing notes, newspaper cuttings, correspondence, and various photocopied items, one section being devoted to details of books bound or re-bound by Birdsalls for the libraries of Shrewsbury School, Ampleforth College, and Ushaw College, Durham; catalogue of an exhibition on the history of Birdsall & Son held at the Museum of Leathercraft, Northampton, 1984, together with two exhibition posters (in roll outside box); copy of Emrys Evans & Rachel Grover, The Birdsall Collection of Bookbinders' Finishing Tools (Toronto, 1972). Also included is a file, compiled by Patrick King, of photographs of the items in boxes 1-3, together with descriptive notes.
Bound facsimile and incomplete draft of the illuminated address presented by the Mayor of Northampton to King George V and Queen Mary on their visit to the town, 23 September 1913, together with a copy of the official programme and two related photographs; three incomplete drafts of other illuminated addresses, 1923 and n. d.
Thirteen finishing tools, including crosses and capital letters in various styles, and two centrepieces, together with three copper plates, two of them, for printing cards, respectively engraved 'Mr R. Birdsall' and 'Mr F. R. Birdsall'; one sheet of inked-tool impressions; draft designs, 191[0]-11, signed 'B. Coldwell', and artwork for three bookcovers, [1901], two of them signed 'A. de Vere Mingard', and four illuminated addresses, 1902-12; samples of leather used for trials of gold tooling; notes, [c. 1900], on bookbindings and illuminations produced. Apprenticeship indentures of William John Stone junior, 1920.
Five boxes containing some thousand rubbings, perhaps mainly of volumes repaired by Birdsall & Son, together with articles from sale catalogues and other publications, 1900s-1950s, relating to the history of bookbinding.
Photographs of bookbindings, numbered 1-289 (many items not present),
Twelve albums compiled by Anthony Birdsall, containing cuttings from catalogues and other publications, extensive notes and related correspondence, all on various aspects of book manufacture and binding:. File I: Some three hundred numbered photographs of Birdsall bindings, corresponding to the photographs in boxes 18-19. File II: Photographs of book boxes and pre-19th century bookbindings. File III: Engravers' marks and watermarks. File IV: Leather, including samples and notes on conservation. File V: Photographs of illuminations from manuscripts and early printed books, mainly of English provenance. File V: Notes and printed material on bookbindings. Files VI-VII: Historical bindings; headbands. Files VIII-IX: Notes on collations of old printed books, perhaps compiled when repairing or rebinding them. File X: Articles and technical notes on the repair of damaged books, including recipes for various preparations used. File XI: Bibles; technical notes on commissions executed. File XII: Notes on the history of books and bookbinding.
Eighteen small boxes of glass negatives for the family photographs in the large albums in box 27, together with negatives and prints, mostly of members of the Birdsall family and friends.
Miscellaneous printed books, dated 1823-1942, all in Birdsall bindings. These include two Bibles, one (Old Testament only) bound in memory of Richard Manning Birdsall (dec. 12 Dec. 1942), in a Birdsall binding closely related to that used for the 'Coronation Bible' (see also boxes 2-3, 17); Extracts from the Psalms [1831], printed by James Birdsall; Memorials of Charitable Donations (1815), bound by Anthony Birdsall the elder and bearing his signature; The Denominational Reason Why (1860), bearing the signature of Richard Birdsall and rebound by Anthony Birdsall the younger. Gabriel Wells, Gentle Reactions (1923) presented by the author to Anthony Birdsall; a copy of Lord [Charles John] Darling, Reconsidered Rimes (1930), containing two letters, 1930, relating to the rebinding by Birdsall & Son of books in Lord Darling's possession; a copy of A Literary Friendship: Letters to Lady Alwyne Compton from Thomas Westwood (1914), containing references to Birdsall bindings and related correspondence, 1914-18, together with a sample of the peacock design, the work of Amy Ruth Birdsall, mentioned therein; a bound volume of The Saturday Magazine (1838), with a related letter to Anthony Birdsall the younger, 1942. (For details of other books formerly in the possession of Anthony Birdsall the younger, see Sotheby's sale catalogue, box 17). Three empty bindings, late 19th-early 20th century, one marked 'Unsolicited testimonials received by Messrs Birdsall & Son'.
Two sets of examples of Birdsall bindings,