IMGR61

THE CENTRES OF PRODUCTION

rai m of Rock 'u a mcans of making poor cloth look and leci bctter chan ic was* as In rccocdcd in an Act of Richard III daced 1483. * Whcrc ot by whom ic was firsc used in (jhJ making of imitation vdvet is obacure. If che attribucion of certain Bockcd wall-papets ao Herman Schinkcl of Dełfć is correct, chcąc prcsumably precedcd his dcath in 1548. Claims have been madc in France thac one Le Franęois of Rouen was che invcncor buc chat sccms unlikcly. In 16a6 che Company of Paintcr-Staincrs elaimed ‘flock work* as one of their monopolies: buc on isc May 16)4 Charles I graneed a Paccnc co Jero me Laaycr (or Lanicr). thoughc co havc been a Hugucnoc refugee, che preamblc co which ■tads:

fWhereai our trusty and well bdoved subjcct and servanc Jcromc Lcnyct hach informed us chat hec, by his endcavours hach iound ouc “An Art and Mistcric by *8rmg WooD, Silke and ochcr Matcrialls ofdivers Cullours. vppon Lynncn, Cloach. Silkr. Cottcn. Leather and ochcr subscances wach Oylc. Sizc. and ochcr Cimcncs, co make chcm vscfull and scrviceablc for Hangings and ochcr Occassons** . .. and chat che saide arce as of his own invcnęion, noc formerly vscd by ansę ochcr wachin ihii realnie ■ ■

II will be nobeed thac ‘paper* is cxcluded from che spccificd maccrials; this may be bccausc che flocking of paper was already escablished, whcrcas this is che earlicsc known mcncion of flocking on lcachcr. Maybe chat particular applicacion was firsc used in England. evcn if che *anventor* was a ‘forcigner*.

Posadvc evidencc chat an English gile leather indusery cxisccd by che middle of che «7th century is provadcd by Samuel Pcpys who, on Novcmber jth 166I chose his firsc echidc: *a litllc chahoc whosc body was framed ... co be covcred with leather*. On April soch 1M9, impacienc ac che delay and wishing co usc ic on che morrow, he went co watch che applicacion of tucccssive coacs of ycllow vamish co the already silvercd lcachcr covcring. umil k glcamcd like rcal gold. He cdls us how he *stood by k ciii eighc ac nighc. and saw che paincer varnish ic, which is pecety co sce how every doing k ovcr do make k moce and morę ycllow: and k drics as fiut in the sun as ic can be laid on almosc; and most toacbti ort, mow'*'dayt dom m, [author’s italics] and it is vexy pecety w hen laid on well, and noc coo pale, as somc are, evcn co show che silvcr.' Then came ann-climax. The fcOowing morning, May Day. Pcpys and his wifc used k for che firsc dme: ‘Buc we sec ouc. ouc of humour ... che day also bcing unpleasing . . . duscy and windy and cold and now and chen a litllc dribbling rain ... and so we had littlc pleasure.* A lew ycars catlicr, on Octobcr ipcb 1660, Samuel Pcpys had rccordcd in his Oiary thac ‘This morning my dming-coom was finished wkh green serge and gile lcachcr, which is vcry handsomc*. '    “d Bdmopdbnu. op. ca, pp. s« « mą.