Floorcloth and Linoleum: Aspects of the History of Oil-Coated Materials for Floors

Textile History

Volumn 27, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 148-171

  Edwards, Clive D ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 2742513356     PISSN: 00404969     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1179/tex.1996.27.2.148     Document Type: Article

References (115)

1. Linoleum has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years, especially for contract and public works.
2. G. Fallopius, Artbook (1578).
3. Patent Specification No. 40/1627.
4. Patent Specification No. 99/1636.
5. M. W. Jones, 'The History and Manufacture of Floorcloth and Linoleum', a paper read before the Bristol section of the Society of Chemical Industry at the University, Bristol, 21 November 1918, p. 21.
6. John Smith, The Art of Painting in Oyl (London, 1676), 1705 edn.
7. Patent Specification No. 336/1694.
8. James Ayres has suggested that canvases to lay under tables are examples of early attempts to protect carpets. Traditional Homes (July 1985), p. 55.
9. P. Thornton, Authentic Decor (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), p. 102.
10. D. Bremner, The Industries of Scotland, their rise, progress and present condition (A. C. Black, 1869), 'The Manufacture of Floorcloth', pp. 343-49.
11. MS Diary (Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery) quoted in J. Ayres, Traditional Homes, July 1985, p. 50.
12. C. Gilbert, J. Lomax, A. Wells-Cole, Country Home Floors (Temple Newsam, Leeds, 1987), p. 103.
13. A very full description of all the processes of floorcloth manufacture may be found in G. Dodd, Days at the Factories (Chas Knight, 1843, reprint EP Publishing 1975), pp. 281-302. Also see C. Tomlinson, Cyclopedia of Useful Arts and Manufacturers (1854), vol. I, Floorcloth entry.
14. A very full description of all the processes of floorcloth manufacture may be found in G. Dodd, Days at the Factories (Chas Knight, 1843, reprint EP Publishing 1975), pp. 281-302. Also see C. Tomlinson, Cyclopedia of Useful Arts and Manufacturers (1854), vol. I, Floorcloth entry.
15. The Sun Insurance registers list a selection of these various types. These records which are deposited in the Guildhall Library, London, have provided some examples that have been used later in this paper.
16. Furniture and Decoration (15 November 1898), p. 181.
17. J. Lockhart, Kirkcaldy 1838-1938 (Kirkcaldy, Allen Litho, 1939), P. 30.
18. H. Reynolds, Directions for Home and Ship Painting (1812).
19. See trade card of John Hayward, Heal Collection.
20. J. C. Loudon, The Suburban Gardener and Villa Companion (London, 1838), pp. 85-86.
21. A number of manufacturers had 'warehouses' separate from their workshops.
22. Robert Campbell, The London Tradesman (London, 1747), P. 245.
23. A. Heal, The London Furniture Makers (Batsford, 1953), P. 192.
24. Heal Trade Card Collection, British Library.
25. Ibid.
26. Sun Insurance Co. policy registers.
27. Patent Specification No. 787/1763
28. Sun Insurance Co. registers.
29. Heal Trade Card Collection, British Library.
30. G. Christie, Storeys of Lancaster (London, Collins, 1964), p. 66.
31. Patent Specification No. 1751/1790.
32. Patent Specification No. 7178/1836.
33. H. G. Bodenbender, Linoleum Handbuch (Berlin, c. 1931).
34. Patent Specification No. 10054/1844.
35. Patent Specification No. 2926/1859.
36. Chamber's Encyclopaedia (London, 1862).
37. Journal of the Society of Arts (4 April 1862), p. 327.
38. Practical Mechanic's Journal (1 August 1862), p. 115.
39. Patent Specification No. 2340/1864.
40. Linoxyn Patent Specification No. 209/1860.
41. Patent Specification No. 3210/1863.
42. Patent Specification No. 3210/1863.
43. A Few Facts About Carpets (Boston, 1885), cited in B. W. Parks, 'The history and technology of Floorcloths', Assoc. for Preservation Technology Bulletin, XXI, 3/4 (1989).
44. A Few Facts About Carpets (Boston, 1885), cited in B. W. Parks, 'The history and technology of Floorcloths', Assoc. for Preservation Technology Bulletin, XXI, 3/4 (1989).
45. F. Walton, The Infancy and Development of Linoleum Floorcloth (1925).
46. For a detailed technical history see H. Fischer, Geschichte, Eigenshaften und Fabrication des Linoleum (Leipzig, 1888). See also Furniture and Decoration (15 October 1896), pp. 161-63 for discussion of a British linoleum factory and its methods.
47. For a detailed technical history see H. Fischer, Geschichte, Eigenshaften und Fabrication des Linoleum (Leipzig, 1888). See also Furniture and Decoration (15 October 1896), pp. 161-63 for discussion of a British linoleum factory and its methods.
48. Patent Specification No. 2057/1871.
49. Engineering (13 December 1889), p. 685.
50. Board of Trade, Working Party Report, Linoleum and Felt Base (HMSO, 1946).
51. Authentic Decor, op. cit.
52. N. F. Little, 'Decoration Underfoot', Country Life (3/10 January 1974), p. 34.
53. H. Comstock, 'Eighteenth century Floorcloths', Antiques (January 1955), pp. 48-49.
54. J. Ayres, The Home in Britain (London, Faber and Faber, 1981), p. 119.
55. Ibid.
56. S. M. Gold, A Short Account of the Life and Work of John Rowell (Ranelagh Press, 1965), p. 34.
57. Walpole Correspondence with the Countess of Upper Ossory, vol. III, pp. 222-23. O.U.P.
58. Ibid.
59. B. W. Parks, 'The history and technology of Floorcloths', Assoc. for Preservation Technology Bulletin, XXI, 3/4 (1989).
60. Goethe, Poetry and Truth, quoted in G. Christie, Storeys of Lancaster (London, Collins, 1964).
61. Goethe, Poetry and Truth, quoted in G. Christie, Storeys of Lancaster (London, Collins, 1964).
62. Jones, op. cit.
63. R. Barnes, Papers in connection with the early manufacture of floorcloth, National Art Library (V. & A.) 1861.
64. However, Loudon warned that 'Painted floorcloths may sometimes be used in lobbies and the passages of cottages, but they are not economical articles where there is much going out and coming in of persons generally employed in the open air, and of course wearing strong shoes with nails in the soles'.
65. J. C. Loudon, Encyclopaedia of Cottage Villa and Farm Architecture (1842), p. 346.
66. The Illustrated Catalogue of the Great Exhibition (London, 1851).
67. A contemporary description said of this cloth: 'Chintz [design] consisting of two bouquets of flowers, with a variety of drapery interspersed - an expensive cloth with ten different colours, requiring fourteen blocks to bring out the design'. Quoted in A. Muir, Nairn's of Kirkcaldy (Cambridge, Heffer, 1956).
68. R. Redgrave, Supplementary Report on Design, Reports of the Juries of the 1851 Exhibition (London, 1851), p. 729.
69. A. Muir, Nairn's of Kirkcaldy (Cambridge, Heffer, 1956).
70. G. Wallis 'Recent progress in design as applied to manufactures', Journal of the Society of Arts (14 March 1856), p. 291.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Art Journal (1860), p. 360.
74. Art Journal (1862), p. 238.
75. Furniture and Decoration (15 October 1896), p. 163.
76. Art Journal (1862), p. 238.
77. Practical Mechanics Journal (May 1867), p. 55.
78. The Decorator & Furnisher (July 1889), p. 100.
79. Practial Mechanics Journal, Record of the Great Exhibition (1862), p. 202.
80. C. Eastlake, Hints on Household Taste (London, 1868), p. 45.
81. Furniture Gazette (January 1876).
82. Art Journal (January 1876).
83. Art Journal (January 1876).
84. S. Durant, Christopher Dresser (Academy Editions, 1993), P. 138.
85. Carpet Trade [USA] (January 1878) quoted in In Pursuit of Beauty (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986).
86. Carpet Trade [USA] (January 1878) quoted in In Pursuit of Beauty (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986).
87. G. Gericke, Deutsche Werkbund Jahrbuch (1912).
88. H. Fuchs, Delmenhorster Kreissblatt, 15 August 1905, quoted in M. Jeffries, 'The Werkbund in Delmenhorst, A forgotten episode in German Design History', Journal of Design History, XII, 1 (1994), pp. 13-26.
89. H. Fuchs, Delmenhorster Kreissblatt, 15 August 1905, quoted in M. Jeffries, 'The Werkbund in Delmenhorst, A forgotten episode in German Design History', Journal of Design History, XII, 1 (1994), pp. 13-26.
90. P. Thornton, Authentic Decor (London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984), p. 323.
91. Stock lists published by the Linoleum Manufacturing Co. 1915-30.
92. Board of Trade Working Party, Linoleum and Felt Base (HMSO, 1947), P. 35.
93. S. Chermayeff, Architectural Review, LXXIV (1933), p. 147.
94. M. Farr, Design in British Industry (Cambridge University Press, 1955), pp. 26-27.
95. Ibid.
96. House & Garden (October 1958), pp. 79-81.
97. R. Barnes, MSS, Papers in connection with early floorcloth manufacture, National Art Library (V. & A.), 1861.
98. C. Gilbert, J. Lomax and A. Wells-Cole, Country House Floors (Temple Newsam, Leeds, 1987), p. 101. The successors of Nathan Smith, Messrs Smith, Baber and Downing, recorded in 1790s their interests in supplying 'Trellis work, temples, garden seats, cover'd ways, portable rooms and all kinds of temporary erections', surely a reference to one of the original uses of oil or waxed cloth that was referred to in the 1722 bill above.
99. Ibid.
100. N. F. Little, 'Decoration Underfoot', Country Life (3/10 January 1974), p. 32.
101. R. Roth, Floor coverings in eighteenth century America, US National Museum Bulletin No. 250 (Washington, Smithsonian Press, 1967).
102. J. Marschner, 'Baths and Bathing at the early Georgian Court', Furniture History, XXXI (1995), pp. 26-27.
103. C. Gilbert, J. Lomax and A. Wells-Cole, Country House Floors (Temple Newsam, Leeds, 1987), p. 101.
104. Ibid.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid., p. 102.
107. Scott Letters, National Library of Scotland, 38876, f. 161. Reference courtesy of the Information Section, Furniture Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
108. Country House Floors, p. 101.
109. Ibid., p. 102.
110. Furniture Gazette (15 September 1891).
111. Furniture Gazette (15 September 1891).
112. H. Davison, The Book of the Home (London, 1900), pp. 112-13.
113. Ladies Home Journal (May 1929).
114. Ladies Home Journal (April 1939).
115. C.O.I.D., Furnishing to Fit the family, pamphlet (1948).