Photograph Album of Holtzapffel Lathes and Accessories and Related Items, Compiled Within the Firm of Holtzapffel & Co., c.1892

Oblong album bound in black half-leather and black cloth, with spine title 'Holtzappfel Lathes' [spelled incorrectly]. Flyleaf + 36 card leaves (19 with photographs, 17 blank) + flyleaf. R. T. Gunther's bookplate on pastedown, and note on verso of flyleaf; together with a loose note by F. W. Gerrard. Contains 35 photographs. The original sequence was 32, mostly early gelatine prints, all glossy, some yellowish and some purple toned, but two of them albumen prints, of which one seems obviously older and the other has a stamp dated 1892. To these have been added a large platinum print (approximately 10 by 7½ inches) of a turned ivory goblet, and 2 black-and-white gelatine prints dated 1933, the latter certainly added by Gunther.

The album was compiled within the firm Holtzapffel & Co as a record of their products. Gunther's note at the beginning reads: 'Purchased of Messrs. Holtzapffel in 1928, when they were dispersing their Ornamental Turning department as obsolete and unprofitable. R. T. Gunther.'. There are no original captions, but most of the photographs have captions or annotations by Gunther, derived from or incorporating information from F. W. Gerrard, an employee of Holtzapffel from 1883 to 1926/27, who made some of the instruments shown. Gerrard has signed his name below one of the photographs.

For fuller descriptive and historical commentary, and list of contents, see narratives.