The Trade Signs of Essex

The Trade Signs of Essex - A popular account of the origin and meanings of the public houses & other signs

HE use of signs as a means of distinguishing different houses of business, is a custom which has come down to us from times of great antiquity. Nevertheless, it is not at all difficult to discover the reasons which first led to their being employed. In days when only an infinitesimally small proportion of the population could read, it would obviously have been absurd for a tradesman to have inscribed above his door his name and occupation, or the number of his house, as is now done. Such inscriptions as Sutton & Sons, Seedsmen, or Pears & Co., Soapmakers, would then have been quite useless as a means of distinguishing the particular houses that bore them; but, if each dealer displayed conspicuously before his place of business a painted representation of the wares he sold, the arms of the Trade-Guild to which he belonged, or those of his landlord or patron, or some other device by which his house might be known, there would be little probability of mistake. If the sign thus displayed indicated the nature of the wares sold within, it would answer a double purpose. Signs, too, would be especially{2} useful in distinguishing different establishments in times when many members of the same craft resided, as they used formerly to do, in one street or district. Although this habit has now largely disappeared in England, in the cities of the East each trade is still chiefly confined to its own special quarter. In considering the subject of how signs originally came into use, it must never be forgotten that, in bygone times, they were not confined, as now, almost exclusively to public-houses. We have still, among others, the sign of the Pole for a barber, the Rod and Fish for a tackle-dealer, the Black Boy for a tobacconist, the Golden Balls for a pawnbroker; but formerly the proprietor of nearly every house of business, and even of private residences, displayed his own particular sign, just as the keepers of inns and taverns do now. For instance, an examination of the title-page of almost any book, published a couple of centuries or so ago, will show an imprint something like the following:Printed for Timothy Childe at the White Hart in St. Pauls Churchyard; and for Thos. Varnam and John Osborn at the Oxford Arms in Lombard St. MDCCXII. Again, Sir Richard Bakers quaint Chronicles of the Kings of England was printed in 1684, for H. Sawbridge at the Bible on Ludgate Hill, B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Churchyard, and T. Sawbridge at the Three Flower-de-Luces in Little Brittain. As a further example of the use of signs in former times by booksellers, in common with other tradesmen, it may be mentioned that, according to a writer in Frazers Magazine (1845, vol. xxxii. p. 676) Were announcements similar to these to appear on any modern book, it would certainly give many persons the impression that the work had been printed at a public-house. Again, on the cheques, and over the door of Messrs. Hoare, bankers, of Fleet Street, may still be seen a representation of the Leather Bottle which formed their sign in Cheapside at least as long ago as the year 1677. In Paris, to the present day, sellers of bois et charbons (wood and charcoal or coals) invariably have the fronts of their establishments, facing the street, painted in a manner intended to convey the impression that the house is built of rough logs of wood. This device, although not displayed upon a sign-board, forms, in every respect, a true trade-sign. In all parts of France, signs still retain much more of their ancient glory than they do in England. Though not common in the newer and more fashionable streets and boulevards, they are abundant in the older quarters of Paris, Rouen, and other large towns. They are much oftener pictorial or graven than with us, and it is notable that they are used almost, or quite, as frequently by shopkeepers and other tradesmen as by the keepers of wine-shops, inns, and taverns. The sign, too, very often represents the wares sold within. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 51885
Author: Christy, Miller
Release Date: Apr 28, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English