Glass
[Trade] ANONYMOUS. The plate-glass-book, consisting of the following authentic tables. I. The Value of any Looking-Glass when finished and fit for framing By a Glass-House Clerk. The Second Edition, Enlarged. To Which Is Added The Compleat Appraiser. London, Printed for the author and sold by E. Wicksteed, John Bennet, Nathaniel Hill, Chris. Stedman, and John Goater, 1758.
4to. [20 x 8 cm], xxv, (1), 170, (2), iv, 46, 46a-h, 47-74 pp., 3 woodcuts figures in text, 2 (of complete and broken glass) hand-coloured. Bound in contemporary gilt-ruled calf, spine with raised bands, joints and head of spine worn. Ex libris of Macclesfield Library on front pastedown, library stamp on title and two preliminaries, light toning throughout but generally very good.
$3,350 Second, enlarged edition of this popular handbook (first 1757) offering an accurate set of tables for assessing value of plate glass, mirrors, and other household goods. Written by an unnamed clerk who was motivated to standardize the industry's price tables after comparing the inaccurate hand-written copies possessed by his friends and fellow Workmen. This volume aims to replace both manuscript tables and wooden rules, all rife with almost innumerable Errors, and reassures the reader that every page been proofread by at least two people. The opening section describes glass-making, properties of glass and convex and concave mirrors, and the colors of plate glass. Tables show values for glass in its various stages of production; a colored diagram demonstrates how the tables are to be used. The final pages of this section complete the contemporary economic picture, comparing the prices and standard discounts offered by vendors in Vauxhall as well as Fleet Street.
The second part of the book is devoted to determining the value of a wide range of household implements and furnishings. The separately titled Compleat Appraiser provides prices for Braziers, Copper-Smiths, Plumbers and Pewterers Goods: Also for Iron, Wall-paper, Damask, and Linen Furniture, Liquors, Plate, &c. Ostensibly transcribed from a manuscript by an Eminent Broker lately deceased, it also includes information on detecting frauds in silver plate. The weight and concomitant value of implements such as coal scuttles, frying pans, coffee and chocolate pots are listed in numerous tables. One conjectures that this reference is meant both for professional scrap dealers and for private home-owners who might be seeking a market for their hardware. In addition to formulas for determining how many lengths of wallpaper are required for a given room (or conversely, how much the damask on certain walls cost), The Compleat Appraiser includes shortcuts for those who do not know how to multiply or divide.
An important reference for merchants, The plate-glass-book was reprinted at least five times to reflect changing prices (1757, this 1758, 1560, 1571, and 1784). For the first edition, OCLC lists only V & A and Delaware; this second edition is found at Cornell, Boston Athenaeum, McGill, McMaster, and Rakow/Corning Museum of Glass.
* NUC; Duncan, Bibliography of Glass from the earliest records to 1940.
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