Frustrating search finds nothing…much

I had a totally frustrating morning at the Science Museum. Nick asked me to amend a People record for a London printer who owned a very successful publishing house that specialised in lithographs (the Baynard Press). In fact, Baynard’s were considered the best in the early 20th century. They produced a lot of London Transport posters and are very highly prized now.

The problem is, there’s a lot of bits and pieces about them but nothing substantive or usable as far as proper research goes. Quite apart from this, the original record for the parent company includes Baynard rather than having them both as separate companies with a link explaining the connection. Cleaning that up was easy but finding out any information on either was like squeezing a camel out of a pineapple.

I went hither and thither, finding out a lot about various publishing houses around at the same time and about some guy called Griffits (I thought this was a typo but his name WAS Griffits and not Griffiths) who went from Vincent Brooks, Day & Son (a rival printing house) to Baynard, which, it seems, was a bit of a coup. I can only assume they paid him more money.

Actually, I found out a hell of a lot more information about Vincent Brooks, Day & Sons than about Baynard or the company that owned them (F Sanders Philips & Co). Even Companies House, usually such a reliable source of company information, had only unattainable archived material. Seriously, can Companies House be so desperate for memory that they have to take stuff off their system? Must be the only people who do.

Anyway, it was very frustrating…and all for a Guinness poster of a clock. I eventually gave up. As I said to Nick, I can waste an awful lot of time finding nothing or I can call a halt to it and find something that wants to be found. He agreed and I gave up at lunch time and popped over to the V&A.

I was wandering around the early Renaissance galleries and found this lovely piece of stained glass. It is said to depict Sarah and Tobias from the bible. Now if this isn’t a fairy tale I don’t what is! Apparently Sarah had already married seven men and they’d all died on the wedding night. When she married Tobias (WHY?) he thought it was all over for him but then, fortunately, the angel Raphael turned up and suggested to Tobias that he shouldn’t consummate the marriage for at least three nights thereby passing the fateful first night.

The stained glass shows them safely tucked up in bed with a dog at their feet. The dog symbolises chastity in religious paintings. The extinguished candle in the bottom left hand corner is symbolic of Tobias’ extinguished temptation. Apparently.

This is a story from the Old Testament but I think it sounds like an adults version of a Brothers Grimm tale. Was she enchanted by an evil witch with a love of the macabre? Or maybe Sarah visited a witch and asked for the power to attract men but, just as she left, the witch cackled as she announced to her pet crow that every man she married would die on their wedding night.

But Raphael was right and Sarah and Tobias lived happily every after. I think the witch was turned into a newt.

I also spotted (and quite liked) this wooden carving. It’s on an oak panel dating from around 1522 and is from France. The entire thing shows this poor chap and a guy in some sort of official garb who’s clearly not happy with him. It’s unknown what it’s about specifically but the guy in the picture has clearly been caught nicking stuff because as the official guy grabs him, a whole load of stuff falls out of his coat. Best guess by those that know these things was that it stood as a warning outside a building.

I think he looks quite aggrieved.

Anyway, the afternoon was far better than the morning and I learned all about Cornelius Varley. He invented the graphite telescope which was a big hit in the early 1800s. Unfortunately all he wanted to do was paint but he just kept inventing these amazing optical devices. There was a LOT of stuff about him for me to dig out and disseminate.

UPDATE 2021: There is now a rather extensive Wikipedia entry for Vincent Brooks, Day and Son. I wonder if Simon did it as he promised in the comments?