USE OF TILLETS IN THE PACKAGING & DISPATCH OF WOOLLEN CLOTH

By Michael A Patrick, BSc(Tech), PhD

1. Introduction

This brief study was undertaken in order to find information in the literature concerning the use of tillets in the woollen cloth trade. The Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Exeter has an interesting collection of relics of the regional cloth trade including carved wooden “tillet” blocks which it appears were used for printing decorative images. The general understanding was[1]

• Tillet blocks are particularly linked to Exeter.
• A tillet was a loose woollen cloth wrapped around a bale of woollen cloth.
• The printing blocks were part of a complex and many-layered system of quality control.
• The large blocks usually show the royal coat of arms.
• It was thought that the stamp was put on at the Customs House on the quay.

2. The Regional Woollen Cloth Export Trade

• Parliamentary records, at the beginning of the 16^th century, frequently mention the export of woollen goods from the Exeter area.

• In the 18th century Exeter had, next to Leeds, the largest woollen market in the Kingdom.

• At the start of the 18th century, it is said that the trade was so general, that eight out of every ten citizens were connected with it. In 1750 over 300,000 pieces of woollen goods valued at a million pounds, were exported from Exeter.

2.1 Finishing Processes

There were a number of processes carried out at the finishing centres of Exeter and Tiverton between the receipt of the woven serges and their packing into bales for export.

• Braying or Scouring to remove oil and size.

• Milling or fulling in “tucking-mills”

• Stretching and drying in rack-fields

• Dressing (teasing) to raise nap

• Cropping by shearsmen

• Drawing – repair of faults in the fabric

• Hot-pressing between heated plates

• Dyeing of pieces in vats

2.2 Packaging

• After finishing, the cloth was packed and dispatched overland by pack-horse or waggon, and then by sea from Bristol, London or the Exe estuary.

• There is still much to be understood about the packaging process, e.g. wrapping of cloth, size of bales, and degree of protection of the contents against the adverse environment of a ship’s hold.

2.3 Cloth wrappers or Tillets

• Cloth for exportation was wrapped in pieces of protective cloth or paper called "tillets" on which decorative "stamps" were applied.

• These stamps are thought to represent "trade-marks" of the 18th century cloth merchants and early examples of marketing and advertising.

• There is evidence that the images were printed on pre-stencilled surrounds often as part of a larger composite design up to two-feet square.

2.3.1 Dictionary Definitions of Tillet

• Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

§ (n) tillot tĭl"lŏt A bag made of thin glazed muslin, used as a wrapper for dress goods.

• Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

§ (n) tillot A case or sack made highly glazed muslin, used to cover broadcloth etc., as a protection against dust and injury from handling.

• A Researcher’s Glossary of Words Found in Historical Documents of East Anglia

§ (n) tillet Coarse cloth used for wrapping.

• Dictionnaire Universel De Commerce: Volume 3, P-Z - edited by Philémon Louis Savary, at Geneva 1742

§ TILLET – Referred to by Merchants & Manufacturers, as a piece of cloth, of indeterminate size, which is used to wrap fabrics, serges & other like goods, to prevent their deterioration.

§ There are white Tillets & other shades in different colours, some unified and others painted with coats of arms, devices or some other ornaments; those which the English employ, especially for their serges of London are the finest and best-made having gold and silver among their colours.

§ Numbers are usually marked on Tillets with the measurement of the pieces they contain, and sometimes is added the name of the merchant making the shipment. The canvas that is employed most commonly to make the Tillets is called buckram.

2.4 Published References to Tillets

Although the words “tillet” and “tilleting” are not well-known in the English language it is possible to find them used in articles in newspapers and similar publications of the 18^th and 19^th centuries.

• 15 May 1676 - Extract from the Registers of the State Council.

ARRET: concerning widths and qualities of textiles manufactured in Languedoc for the Levant (1676). HIS MAJESTY IN COUNCIL, orders that there will not be manufactured in the future in the Languedoc Manufactories & others of the Kingdom, for the Levant, other than three sorts of textiles; i.e. Refins; Fins & Commons, His Majesty wants there to be an ell & one sixth of width between the two edges, marked with the brand of the worker who made them, the place of the factory, with an inscription of cloth quality, & of its destination for the Levant trade. His Majesty desires all workers and factors to supply the fabrics in wrappers which record the quality of the fabric; i.e. cloths of the first quality in Taffeta tillets; of the second, in tillets, half taffeta and half canvas or mesh; & of the third, in tillets of mesh, under penalty of confiscation of cloth pieces which will be found to be of other quality, & of two thousand livres fine.

• "Exposition on the Common Prayer", Wed. October 4, 1738; No.LXIV (weekly)

Last Wednesday died, aged eighty years, after a long illness, at his Lodgings at Brook-House, Hackney, Mr Grove, formerly Tillet-Printer to the East India Company. He had acquired a large Estate, and had lived retired from business for many years.

• The Scots Magazine - Saturday 01 November 1783 Act of Parliament passed in the Session 1782-3

An act for granting a bounty upon the exportation of British and Irish buckrams, and tilletings, Britisb and Irish linens, British calicoes and cottons, or cottons mixed with linen, printed, painted, stained or dyed, in Great Britain. [Grants a bounty for every yard of British and Irish buckrams, tillettings, and linen, and of British callicoes and cottons, or cotton mixed with linen, printed, &c. in Great Britain, of 25 inches or more in breadth, which before the printing shall be under the value of 5d. per yard, one halfpenny ; and of the value of 5d. per yard and under 6d. one penny ; and of the value of 6d. per yard and not exceeding 1s. 6d. one penny halfpenny; which, from the passing of this act, until March 28. 1784, shall be exported to Africa, America, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, or the East Indies.]

• The Proceedings of the Old Bailey - 27th October 1862[2].

JOHN BRITTON. I am a packer and shipper, of Basinghall-street — about the 24th August, about 100 pieces of Spanish stripes were placed on our premises by the defendants, to be packed; a delivery order: (Read: "London, August 31st, 1861. Messrs. Britton and Co. Please to deliver to bearer, four bales of Spanish stripes; Braun and Kortoske") — Those four bales included the 100 pieces.

Cross-examined by MR. COLLIER. Q. Have you received a good many goods before from Braun and Kortoske, to be packed? A. Yes; they were what are called tillited — that is what would be done for the Indian market — it only costs half a crown a piece; that would be a hundred half-crowns on the whole — tilliting is a process in addition to packing for the Indian market — the packing would be about the same.

• Leeds Mercury - Tuesday 10 January 1865

Sale of a large quantity of tilleting

• THE LONDON GAZETTE, MAY 24, 1867

Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852 - Offce of the Commissioners of Patents for Inventions — 1090.

NOTICE is hereby given, that provisional protection has been allowed: To Joseph Walton Wallis, of Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax, in the county of York, Merchant, for the invention of "improvements in 'tilloting,' or wrappers for covering woollen fabrics known as 'long-ells' and Spanish stripes, suitable for the India and China markets."

On his petition, recorded in the Office of the Commissioners on the 12th day of April, 1867

• Western Antiquary, p.69, July, 1882. "Four Old Tillet Blocks," by Harry Hems

The following two images, are prints from wooden blocks, which were at one time, actively connected with Exeter’s staple trade. They were used as distinguishing devices stamped upon wrappers of woollen goods. The cloth for exportation was often enclosed in pieces of buckram (tillets). The blocks producing the stamps were known as “tillet blocks”.

2.5 Tillit Blocks

Tillet blocks are the carved designs in pieces of wood used to transfer images to textile surfaces.

• Fortunately, many examples of tillit blocks still survive.

• A variety of block designs may be found in the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter; Tucker’s Hall, Exeter, and the Museum of London (at 150, London Wall, London EC2Y 5HN)

• Many of these provide examples of very high quality decorative wood carving.

2.6 Block and their Impressions

These impressions were taken by Harry Hems from the blocks in his collection. The lion image measured approximately 18 cm x 16 cm, and was intended as an insert to a much larger composite block as shown below, which would have been used for printing the required wrapper.

The role of the tillet is erroneously explained in a short newspaper article published in connection with an Archaeological Institute Meeting held in Exeter in 1873[3]:

London Standard - Friday 08 August 1873

“Another remarkable relic, of very different date and use, has been discovered at Exeter, and is perhaps unique. It is a so-called "tillet block," made for stamping the bales of merchants who were connected with the wool trade of the west. The woollen manufacturers of Crediton, North Tawton, South Molton, and Cullompton usually sent their pieces to Exeter to be dyed, pressed, and "tilleted." The tillets showed various devices; and this, belonging especially to the wool merchants of Exeter, shows a double-headed eagle with an Imperial Crow, indicating apparently some connection with the Hanse towns of Northern Germany, or with some Teutonic guild. It is a finely carved block of oak; and near it is exhibited the advertisement of a certain Robert Billington "at the Golden Lyon, Exon," who undertook the carving of tillets, and whose work this may he. The date is perhaps the end of the 17th century. The buckram in which all woollen goods was wrapped was stamped with this tillet (a very different thing from a merchant's mark). The tillet of scarlet cloth showed the Royal arms. Pieces for the East Indian trade had the arms of the Company.”

Here the newspaper reporter has written that the tillet blocks were used for stamping the bales of cloth merchants involved in the wool trade. In fact, as will be seen later, the blocks were used in the preparation of decorated wrappers (envelopes) for individual pieces of cloth, many of which went to make up a single bale.

2.6.1 Composite Tillet Block

The illustrations below show the way in which the individual small inserts were incorporated in a decorative surround so as to make a usable block for the printing of tillets (wrappers).

These impressions were taken by Harry Hems from the blocks in his collection. The lion image measured approximately 18 cm x 16 cm, and was intended as an insert to a much larger composite block as shown below, which would have been used for printing the required wrapper.

2.6.2 Royal Coats of Arms

George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death on 29 January 1820.

Coat of Armsof William IV, “WR” (Tillet at Coldharbour Museum)

2.6.3 Arms of the East India Company

Carved wooden Tillet Block of the type used to print Imprint from the Tillit Block in the Museum of London

FOX – E.I.C. Tillets (Museum of London - reversed)

This version of the Arms of the Company dates from the Act of Union of 1^st January 1801, a legislative agreement uniting Great Britain (England and Scotland) and Ireland under the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The flags held by the Lions combine aspects of three older national flags: the red cross of St George of the Kingdom of England, the white saltire of St Andrew for Scotland (which two were united in the first Union Flag), and the red saltire of St Patrick to represent Ireland. Cloth coming from the factory of Thomas Fox of Wellington, Somerset was wrapped in tillets decorated with the Company Arms but which also carried emblems representing the identity of the manufacturers. Thanks to the generosity of Coldharbour Mill Museum[4], the museums in the neighbouring towns of Topsham and Tiverton display versions of this tillet design.

The arms, granted in 1698, were: "Argent a cross Gules; in the dexter chief quarter an escutcheon of the arms of France and England quarterly, the shield ornamentally and regally crowned Or." The crest was: "A lion rampant guardant Or holding between the forepaws a regal crown proper." The supporters were: "Two lions rampant guardant Or, each supporting a banner erect Argent, charged with a cross Gules." The motto was AUSPICIO REGIS ET SENATUS ANGLIÆ (Latin: By right of the King and the Senate of England).

2.7 Ordering of Tillets and Seals

During the nineteenth century it is possible to find in the newspapers of the day regular requests for tenders to supply Tillets and Seals to the East India Company as shown by the following “cuttings”.

London Gazette – 31 August 1825 London Gazette – 08 September 1830

2.8 John Ledger and Company, Horsleydown, Southwark, London

• The ‘Arms’ tillet block was used to stamp wrappers for long-ells produced by Fox at Wellington.

• The block illustrated is one of a collection donated to the Museum of London by the Ledger Company, a family business based at the Horselydown printing works in Southwark.

• The firm was originally established by Robert Ledger in the 1760s and traded as “buckram stiffeners and tilleters” in both Southwark and the City of London.

Ledger & Co. were national suppliers of Tillets, with agents in Leeds, as shown in their newspaper advertisement[5].

2.9 Details of Tillet Printing

We are fortunate to have an account of the technique of tillet printing from the Exeter wood-carver, sculptor, antiquarian and collector, Harry Hems. He writes[6]:

It seems that the trade mark was first put on the wraps in a showy colour by means of a stencil, and ultimately completed by the impression of the tillet block. This was printed on by a tillet press. Afterwards, when disused for this purpose, the old presses got adapted for ordinary type printing.

Tillet Press - From Horselydown printing works in Southwark (Museum of London)

A further article by George Townsend confirms that the tillet painting and printing were performed as follows[7]:-

• The wrapper was first prepared with a coat of white paint, a little larger than the device.

• The different colours were rubbed in using a stencil cut out of stiff millboard, and certain portions gilded and silvered.

• The device was completed by the printing of a strong outline from the tillet block.

Townsend notes the following entries from an old tillet painter's day book:-

• Messrs. Edward and Joseph Sheppard, merchants - 200 tillits for middle ranters

• Messrs Cosserat and D’Orville, merchants - 30 tillits with the lion

• Mr Nathaniel Gist, merchant - 100 tillits for small ranters

• Mr Row - 6 tillits for brimstone great ells

• Mr James Rowse, dyer - 6 tillits and 6 seals, at 15d per tillit and seal

• Messrs Rallyerd and Christ, merchants - 18 gilt seals, 10 Queen's arms, and 8 angells

• Mr Alderman Row, merchant - 18 gilt seals, at 1½d per seal

• Messrs Cosserat and D'Orville, merchants - 56 tillits with the cross saltire, at 5d per tillit.

2.10 Historical mention of Tillets in Exeter

John Hayne was a serge merchant, residing in Exeter’s, St Petrock's parish. He was Bailiff in 1609 and Sheriff in 1635. His son, also called John, kept a diary, extracts from which were featured in an article published by T. N. Brushfield in 1901[8]. He notes various expenses incurred in preparing serges for market:

1632, Aug. 13: Ric. Hornabrooke owes for i piece of black buckrom …………………………. 5s 0d

More for 4 tillets black buckrom, remaining of 3 pieces, whereof my father had but 20 tillets from him, a week sithens ................... 2s 6d

Sep.03: Rich. Hornabrooke ought to have for painting of 20 flower-pot tillets, packed this day ......... 10s 0d

1634, May 24. –

I paid Rob. Trescot for 1 piece elbroad Serge dyed yellow and sent to Mr Walrond, viz: for the piece 55s, for dying 5s, for dressing 2s 6d. In all ........................................................ £3 2s 6d

For dying 7 yards willow green vij groats, but he took but ....................... 2s 0d

More paid Barens for pressing the back Serge and the remnant of 7 yards, in the hot press ......... 1s 9d

I paid Matthew Axe for dying a $$$ Serge for Mr Chapman, black, being woaded and arrast ......... 15s 0d

2.11 An Early Tillit-Printer

An advertisement in the Ipswich Journal in 1721 presented the credentials of John Bagnall & Co., Printers and Engravers from London[10], who had the resources to offer a wide range of services including the production of Tillit-prints for Merchants and Packers.

PRINTS all Sorts of Books, Bills, Bonds, Indentures, Sermons, Proposals, Catalogues, Warrants, Receipts, Funeral-Tickets, Tradesmens-Bills, Advertisements, and all other Things in most Languages after the Neatest and best Manner as Well and as cheap as in LONDON.

As also Print, Engrave, Cut all manner of fine Prints in Copper or Wood, viz. Shopkeepers-Signs, Bills of Parcels, Tobacco prints, Card-prints for Packers, Coats of Arms, Card prints for Card-makers, Escutcheons and Arms for Merchants for packing of Goods to Foreign Parts, Callico-prints, Cyphers, Pin-prints for Pin-makers, Sprigs and Flowers for Pattern-drawers, Tillit-prints for Merchants and Packers, Names cut in Wood for those who cannot Write, or have not Time to write their Names at the bottom of Receipts, &c. All which are performed at no other one Printing Office in England.

As also Book-printers may have very fine Cuts in Wood, as cheap, or cheaper, than in London. These and all other Prints, either in Copper or Wood, are perform'd with the utmost Exactness, Nicety and Expedition possible, either at the Letter-Press or Rolling-Press, at very Reasonable Rates.

Note, All Booksellers, Chapmen, Hawkers, Pedlers or others, may be furnished with all Sorts of little Books, Songs, large and small Pictures in Wood or Copper, plain or coloured, by Wholesale or Retale.

N.B. All Gentlemen or others may have the best and newest Note Songs for the Violin or Flute.

3. Packaging of cloth

George Townsend described the packaging of pieces in the tillets[11]:

• Woollen goods dispatched were Long Ells, Half-quarters, Duroys, Prime Sanfords, Druggets, Flannels, Small Ranters, Brimstone great Ells, &c.

• When the goods were packed into the tillets, a small hole was cut, and a portion of the cloth was exposed for examination.

• To this portion a small circular leaden token was attached, called by the merchants "a seal" on which was impressed some device at the option of the merchants and often gilded.

Advice in the Asiatic Journal & Monthly Register[12] for cloth suppliers emphasised the importance of tillets in the 19^th Century

• "The packaging, similar to the Company's[13] for ordinary Spanish stripes, but in better cloths; handsome tillots, and the name in gold on the end of the cloth, will be found to repay the additional expense".

• "The Company's mode of packing is still preferred; and many shippers have adopted it, retaining the same kind of tillots, and the two stamps on the fag, and this greatly facilitates the sale”.

Naturally the absolute weight and dimensions were determined by the type of cloth, the length of the individual cloth pieces, and the number of pieces.

For long-ells (22 yards long) which weighed 12 lbs per piece, a bale of 20 pieces weighed 240 lbs or just over one tenth of a ton. That larger bales than this were encountered is demonstrated by the following newspaper advert seeking the whereabouts of a “lost bale” weighing 30 stone, or 420 lbs (190 kg)[14].

4. Information for French manufacturers on the packaging of woollen cloth for the Chinese market.

A textbook by a M. Natalis Rondot offers information for French manufacturers on current practice in England regarding the packaging of cloth for the Chinese market[15]. It is interesting to note that the French word for the wrappers (Tillets) is “Toilettes”.

We have, in a previous paper,[16] briefly outlined the general characteristics of the three or four woollen goods whose sale is assured in China. We emphasized the certainty of their investment and the possibility of manufacturing in France similar fabrics, at prices that would leave the shippers sufficient profits; finally, we summarized in a few lines the most interesting facts to which it was appropriate to draw the attention of manufacturers. There is therefore no need to submit in this item, new general considerations and we will give the necessary information on the nature, size, assortments and packaging of major imported wool fabric, and introduce, in a word, the essential details and facts of an essential utility.

This contemporary text offers a great deal of clarity in the motivation and practice involved in the packaging and marketing of woollen cloth for the Chinese market and explains in detail the manufacture and preparation of tillets. The present author has not found an equivalent explanation presented in the English language and so has endeavoured to present the information given below by translation from the French.

4.1 SERGES – English long ells in long wool; Imports to China between 1785 and 1845[17]

The table below indicates the number of pieces of long-ells imported into China by the East India Company between 1785 and 1845.

The length of pieces must be regular; they are almost all 24 yards. One merchant has recommended a minimum length of 25 yards. The preferred width is that of 31 in (i.e. 78 cm). Long ells are always sold in assortments of 100 pieces. One publication[18] suggests that the Long Ells must weigh with packaging 12¾ lbs (5.78 kg) per piece and be packed in bales of 20 pieces. M. Rondot describes the marking of the pieces in some detail.

The edges are of almost zero width, these are threads formed by 2 or 4 doubled threads which are returned in the last two teeth of the comb. The heads are very simple; that is, 3 or 5 centimeters from the beginning of the piece, a full stripe having on each side two small lines; the whole is 3 to 3½ cm wide. These lines are dark green on yellow and black on almost all other colors. The head usually bears on the left two lead seals, one gold; with a diameter of 4 centimeters and stamped in relief: there is on one side a shield with a coat of arms, these are fairly often those of the East India Company slightly modified, and the other the mark of the manufacturer or the sender; which in the most highly regarded carries the initials H.H and L., and the premium for the pieces bearing this mark is 10 to 15 cents (55 to 83 centimes). The other lead is placed below the previous one, it is smaller, scarcely 3 cm in diameter and indicates the place, the order number and the aulnage of the piece; on the other side the name of the packer: Hayter & Howell, packers, London. The piece is folded in the middle of the width in such a way as to give rectangular folds of 50-52 cm by 38 to 39 cm.

Pieces of long-ells imported into China by the East India Company between 1785 and 1845.

(1) These long ells cost at London, £2 7s 2d per piece; they sold at Canton in 1814-15, at £2 10s 0d. Superior quality cloth was bought at the same period for £3 5s 2d and sold at £3 3s 4d. Embossed long ells, costing £2 19s 0 were offered at Canton at £3 13s 4d.

(2) These long ells cost at London £1 13s 11 3/4d per piece and were sold at Canton for £2 2s 8d, that is to say with a profit of more than 90%.

(3) The figure of 196,000 pieces is taken from an account of business affairs in Canton, during this year, sent by an English Company to its contacts and published in the Singapore Chronicle of 5 March 1836. According to a statement issued by order of the Superintendant of English affairs there was imported into Canton between 1st April 1834 and 31 March 1835, not more than 66,180 pieces of long-ells under the English flag.

(4) There entered at Shanghai in 1845, 8,028 pieces under various foreign flags.

M. Rondot further adds:

The Chinese attach great importance to the tillet; they do not positively insist that it is perfectly similar to that used for English long ells, but that it is in roughly of the same appearance, with the same kind of ornamentation and even colour. The tillet of the East India Company is always preferred; since 1834, many shippers have adopted it, retaining the arms, inscriptions, and simply adding the stamp of their trade names.

The piece is tied in its folds by three cords of Russian thread or three pink ribbons called Harlems, covered with a sheet of white tissue paper and inserted into the envelope. This tillet (pack or wrapper) is of strong calico, of very round grain and very shiny; it was formerly red-brown or black, depending on the color of the pieces it contained.

The envelope folded as a bag, is 57 centimeters long and 46 centimeters wide; these dimensions are changed into 52 centimeters long, 40 centimeters wide and 52 millimeters thick, when the piece is inserted. This wrapper is closed on two sides by a seam of long stitches made with fine twine, and in the middle knotted cords. One must be careful to leave open the first fold of the piece, so that the quality can easily be verified. The tillet is decorated on the upper face by an image printed in oil paint, 49 centimeters wide and 47 centimeters long. The design represents two lions supporting a shield with the arms of the Company and banners with the colours of England with the legends Auspicio Regis et Senatus Angliae [By the authority of the King and Parliament of England] and fine superfine serge of London, yards 24. At the bottom, in the midst of roses, clovers and thistles, is the mark of the factory. The interior of the tillet is lined with white paper.

4.1.1 Seals

Little importance is attached to lead seals which are welded to the head or muster; they are of 32 to 36 mm in diameter, and are gilded. On some are stamped on one side the name (in Chinese) of the maker or the sender, on the other his mark W.H.W. for example; on the others is a ship, or the symbol of the Golden Fleece, etc.

4.1.2 Folding and tilleting

The pieces are folded over the entire width and wrapped around a board. The selvages should be fairly neat and tidy in order that the parcel is smooth and free of snags. At the centre of the piece is placed a board of white wood and around a sheet of white paper is glued along one of the sides in order to remain fixed. This board is 75 cm long, 24½ cm wide and 1 cm thick. As it is normally in pine, it is necessary to pay attention that there are no knots where resin could be exuded.

CAMELOTS ANGLAIS EN LAINE PEIGNÉE (Camlets in combed wool) - Their name in English is camlet. Camlet, also commonly known as camelot or camblet, is a woven fabric that might have originally been made of camel or goat’s hair, later chiefly of goat's hair and silk, or of wool and cotton. The original form of this cloth was very valuable; the term later came to be applied to imitations of the original eastern fabric.

Camelots arrive under different tillets; we will describe that of the East India Company which is the most appreciated, and under which arrive the Camelots consigned by the house of Wetmore & Co.[19] It is in fairly common calicot, coloured black or in red-brown and shiny, closed by strings threaded around the envelope; this is decorated by a vignette printed on black paper, representing the Arms of England and those of the East India Company, with the legends: Auspicio regis et senatus Angliae; - Dieu et mon droit; - and – Domine, dirige nos. Inscribed on this etiquette is the description of the colour, of the quality and the quantity in yards. Folded blank, this envelope is 86 to 89 cm long and 50 cm wide; when the piece is inside, it measures in length 79 to 82 cm, in width 40 to 47 cm, and with a thickness of 7 to 8 cm. The vignette measures 19½ cm by 7½ cm.[20]

The camelots arrive and are sold in bales of 10 pieces.

4.2 Fabrics in wool, milled and felted: DRAPS – (woollen cloth with felted threads) – SPANISH STRIPES

The Spanish Stripe, abbreviation of Spanish Striped Lists, is a certain quality of light cloth to which this name has been given because its selvages are striped and that originally it was made from Spanish wool.

Length: The length is a bit variable. We advise the adoption of those of 18-19 yards. The usual dimensions are, in effect, 18½, 18¾, 19½ and 20 yards; if one finds on several seals the indication of 21 and 22 yards, one notices also the pieces of Jones, Gibson & Ord, for example which are not other than 15½ - For Shanghai Mr Dallas of the house of Jardine, Matheson & Co., requires 19 and 20 yards. Actual values can be less than those indicated on the seals and the Chinese consider that such alnage can give them a loss as they buy the yard and resell by the piece.

Width: The width of Spanish Stripes is an important point on which we must insist. The recommendation is 60 to 62 ins (152½-157½ cm between selvages). These must be natural measurements and not those forced by excessive tension).

Spanish stripes are made at Leeds in England or in Eupen, Düren. Néau, etc., in Rhenish Prussia; in both cases, they come to Canton and Chang-hai under the English flag. Superior to "draps de dames" of Reims, a little inferior to the light draps of Mouy, they are distinguished by the softness of their wool, their count a bit tight, their spinning round and hollow, their cloth, soft and close, supple and light, always dressed carefully. There are imported each year in Canton 20 to 30,000 pieces, and at Shanghai about 16,000.

4.2.1 Seals and Etiquettes

Seals are preferred to labels secured by a long wire. One or the other are placed alternatively either to left or right; they carry the order number and the aulnage details of the piece. The seals have one of their faces stamped in relief; we can see a pair of wings and a star, the half-body of a winged dragon, an elephant carrying a palanquin, the insignia of the Golden Fleece, the arms of the East India Company, or simply the packer's name : Hayter & Howell, packers, London. Almost always, despite the presence of the label or lead seal, the number of the piece is marked in white thread on the right selvedge, in the vertical sense.

4.2.2 Tilletts

Each piece is under a first white paper envelope, then under a wrapper or pack in black calico or glossy reddish-brown, on which is printed the backdrop of 33 cm wide and 10 cm tall. Each house has taken care to adopt not always a special design but a brand that distinguishes its products. As one usually buys the bales based on a simple view of the sample card, we understand that buyers prefer those which are printed with known brands, which, reminding them of fair and consistent previous deliveries, guarantee them that we ensure the accuracy of the contents of the bale and the identity of the quality of the interior with that of the outer muster. Some houses also have a reputation of not packing other than superior goods; thus, there is not such an insignificant merchant of the last capital district of a province that does not require detailing in the least a piece under the wrapper of the green dragon and the escutcheon of the house Wetmore and Co.

He will only regret that he will decide to choose a piece with two dragons and the mark of the house of Dent and Co.

Finally, failing to find his favourite spanish stripes, he will resign himself to buy those with the shield of three birds of Pearse.

Formerly in the days of the East India Company, the colour of the tillet was essential and regulatory; it was accepted that all the light fabrics of colour Mazarin blue, gentian blue, clear blue, black, green and brown, should be in brown red envelopes, and those of colour purple, gray, white, yellow and scarlet, would be covered by a black tillet.

These days, the English have neglected this habit, and one does not attach any significance to it; however we will always be best to follow the traditions of the East India Company. The piece of spanish stripe measures, in its envelope, 79 to 81 cm long, 33 to 35 cm wide and 5 to 10 cm high.

The tillets do not, in general carry decoration other than that on the cover of the cloth bundle, while the habit cloths, the medium cloths and the fine fabrics have wrappers as rich as they are brilliant, covered with ornaments on the upper side.

The usual decorations for spanish stripes are the following: Envelope in glossy black calico, having on the cover of the slice of selvages a printed decoration 33 cm wide and 10 cm high. The design is crude and tasteless: it is a frame of festoons and garlands; at the middle is a green dragon between two yellow columns, and below a cartridge with the trademark BG and S, the exact indication of aulnage (in yards) and of the colour (in English). The pieces under this tillet measure 81 cm by 33 cm and 45 mm high, and are sold by the house Wetmore & Co.

Wrapper in black calico or red brown waxed cloth; the design printed is not found equally other than on the front cover. We notice two emblazoned crests, and in the middle between two green dragons, the mark of the factory (H.H. and L.). The piece measures 78 x 35 cm, and is 8 cm thick; it is recorded in Dent etc ".

In others, instead of this brand is a cartouche with three birds, and underneath is written on a floating ribbon the name of J. & P. ​​Pearse, London. These may be found in the house of Dent & Co., and they are 80 cm by 34 cm and 10 cm high.

There are also many pieces that are covered with a light black envelope in glossy jaconas[21]; the front edge is adorned with a sticker on paper engraved and coloured. The background is painted silver; the design of little significance. In the centre, in an oval field, an elephant charged with an Indian pavilion; around, acanthus and entwined roses; below, the legend: Best superfine; the order number is on the left and the aulnage on the right. The edges are secured with silk floss cords or very bright white thread. Dimensions of the piece: 79 cm, 34 cm and 5cm.[22]

All the designs are more or less the same, because the makers seek to replicate, as much as possible, the effect of the tillets which carry the favourite brands. We consulted several American and Chinese merchants in order to know what to do in France in this respect, and we believe we must advise the intelligent imitation of English envelopes. It is advisable to maintain the overall layout of the design, but to adopt a new model; it is necessary that the colours are vivid and of overall good taste. We recommend not to cover the tillet, which will be adopted as fabric not only made in accordance with the Chinese requirements, but successful and actually measuring the number of metres or yards mentioned on the lead. "The high quality of our fabrics, Sir G.T. Staunton[23] wrote in 1821, appears to be generally recognised; but what has perhaps helped more than any other merit to assure a favourable welcome in the interior of China, is the special care and constant attention of the East India Company to prevent the packaging and dispatch of defective pieces, inferior in quality or irregular, in the tillets adopted by it, and in the bales leaving from its stores. In this respect, the Company fully succeeded, and it earned the respect and confidence of the Chinese to a degree unprecedented. It is known that the brand and trademarks of the Company are now accepted in almost all parts of the vast empire of China, as a guarantee so certain of the quantity and quality of the item they cover, that we judge unnecessary a preliminary review and verification.” This confidence accorded to the Company can be acquired by any shipper that never delivers, under its brand, other than good and loyal products.

In summary, we insist that a tillet and a special brand to be adopted by the French shippers.

4.3 Light Fabrics called Ladies Cloths and Habit Cloths

Ladies' cloth and habit cloth are a single and same quality of light cloth, differentiated mainly in the destination and consequently in the colour. The fabric that must be worn by ladies is dyed in light shades, in scarlet, in blue gentian, in pink and in apple green. Habit (suit) cloth, which is not, truthfully, other than a superior spanish stripe, other than a type intermediate between striped lists supra and medium cloth, is used for the clothes of the upper classes and requested in dark blue, in purple, in black, etc. There is however a difference to establish and it will be fully understood by the makers; as the ladies' cloth is always dyed in bright colours, the fabric must be much more regular, and prepared with more care than that of suit cloth. A clear fabric should be more covered and better dressed than that which is dark; it is for this reason that the quality of drap de dame is superior to that of drap d’homme. The ladies' cloth is nothing but a variety of habit cloth, which constitutes a type distinct in the series of draped fabrics suitable for China.

Length – Pieces must have a length of 18 to 20 yards, but the majority are of 22 to 25 yards

Width - It is essential that the width is 62 inches, i.e. 157½ cm between edges; several merchants have even recommended that it should be a full 63 inches (160 cm).

Weight – It is about 500 gm per metre, for a full width of 158 cm.

4.3.1 Tillets

Tillets are more ornate than those of spanish stripes; the decor, instead of not being placed on other than the front portion, covers the entire upper face; it is printed in several colours of oil paint. The envelope is still of strong calico, dyed black and glossy; the decor of the tillet of one of the high quality pink ladies' cloths, which we saw in Chang-ching, is arranged as follows: on a matt white background and in the middle of a frame of scallops, is a shield with three trefoils and three crescents, topped with a helmet and a deer's head; on the upper legend is written, John & Thomas Williamson; and on this placed lower down, we read: Constare in sententia .... Cleckheaton, near Leeds. Below are found an elephant and a dromedary. This drawing is reproduced on the small scale on the cover of the slice; the large image is 61 cm long and 36 cm wide, and the small one 34 cm wide and 7½ cm tall. The pack opens alternatively at the right or left and closes with flat pink cords.

We are fortunate to have independent confirmation of this tillet design, the block for which is in the Ledger collection at the Museum of London and a print from which is include in the book by Bevan and Sambrook[24]

Copyright: Author and Topsham Museum Society - October 2018