Lot 185
Heraldry
Illustrated manuscript ledger of British armorial designs, c.1790-1880s
Auction: Other Properties | Wed 25 February from 10am | Lots 63 to 255
Description
Folio (32 x 19.5cm), contemporary reversed calf, red leather label of J. & C. Thrupp (32 George Street and Oxford Street) to front board, metal corner pieces and clasps, approx. 300 ff., containing some 2,500 pen-and-ink designs of crests and full coats of arms, many designs full-page (usually for peers, e.g. Viscount Palmerston, the Earl of Macclesfield), with detailed annotations throughout denoting tincture, and often the purpose of different designs (e.g. type of coach: landau, dress coach, barouche, etc.), date (from the 1850s), and the name of the bearer (either a full name or a family name only), including British armigers of all ranks (peers, baronets, knights, esquires, soldiers, churchmen, ladies), mainly British but also including the Nawab of Surat (dated 1267 AH, i.e. 1851-2 CE, with his name in Hindustani), Italians (Montefiore, Foggo), etc., erratic foliation, [24] ff. tab-index to front, variable marginal damp-staining and toning
Footnote
J. & C. Thrupp, originally known as Charles Thrupp and Co., and from the 1860s as Trupp and Maberley, were a firm of London coachbuilders founded in the mid-18th century and by the late 19th century holding the royal warrant as coach-builders to Queen Victoria. If this ledger is an accurate reflection of their customer base they would appear to have dominated the supply of liveried coaches to the British aristocracy and well-to-do classes.