{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O202494"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O202494/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O202494","accessionNumber":"E.2459:61-1992","objectType":"Account book","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"Five impressions, formerly mounted in the account book, now mounted on a modern sheet, of engraved decoration on and for firearms.\r\n\r\n(A) Coat of arms. Two dragons flank the central shield, which depicts a lion rampant and a small cross at the top left. Above at the crest is a crown, with a helmet above, and a lion holding a flag above that. Scrollwork decorates the crest. 8.3 x 9.3 cm. \r\n(B) Coat of arms. The central heraldic shield shows roses lining an angled line and three heads of cats (possibly). At the crest is a helmet, and above that is a head of a cat (matching those in the shield) wearing a crown. Scrollwork ornaments the crest. Below the shield reads 'WEAVE TRUTH WITH TRUST.' 6.6 x 6.8 cm. \r\n(C) Heraldic shield in a Rococo setting within a trophy of arms. The shield shows a lion rampant, and above at the crest is the upper half of a lion rampant emerging from a turreted tower. Standards and flags flank the shield, and below the ground is littered with weapons, cannon balls, and more standards. 5 x 6.3 cm. \r\n(D) Decorative details using scrollwork and floral details. Rectangular. 4 x 6.5 cm. \r\n(E) Likely from the engraved lid of a snuff box. At the centre is a shield with four sections, with a crown at the crest. Small symbols, such as the cross, make up the border decoration. Around the central circle is extensive scrollwork with shell-like decorations. 8.6 x 8.6 cm. \r\n\r\nBook containing manuscript accounts for the engraving of firearms between 1790-1794 by William Palmer, and of accounts of the firm of Booth and Palmer, some dated 1797-9. 79 leaves (formerly 126, the missing sheets historically cut out), full-bound in blind tooled vellum. 8 loose sheets, 1143 cuttings of drawn designs, inked impressions from engraving on firearms, spoons, boxes, and other items, and bookplates and other prints, formerly stuck over manuscript accounts, remounted on separate sheets.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"William Palmer","id":"A12445"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ink","id":"AAT15012"},{"text":"paper","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"AAT54196"},{"text":"engraving","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink, wash, pencil, engraving, blind impressions","categories":[{"text":"Designs","id":"THES48968"},{"text":"Firearms","id":"THES49007"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLD","id":"THES49658"},"free":"","case":"MB6","shelf":"SH14","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1790-1800","earliest":"1790-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.2459-1992","id":"O1785861"},"association":"Album"}],"creditLine":"Given by Mr John Clancy through Mr Eric Griffin","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"20.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"19.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"17/04/2024","earliest":"2024-04-17","latest":"2024-04-17"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions refer to the new sheet on which the individual cuttings have been remounted. ","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The accounts for William Palmer’s engraving of firearms, which fill 120 pages (many sheets have been cut out), show his main clients to have been the well-known firearm makers Henry Nock, Durs Egg, and John and Joseph Manton, but that he also worked for William Jover Junior, Robert Wogdon, John or Wattell Clark, and ‘Mr. Lowe.’ Some of the accounts mention transfers from an ‘old book.’ At the back of the book is a single page of accounts headed ‘cash and Notes Recd. Of Booth & Palmer’ dating between October 1797 and October 1799. The rest of the account, filling one side of a single sheet, has been cut out. The other side of the lost sheet contained the start of an account of the firm’s expenditure, which continues on both sides of three surviving sheets (with two sheets cut out in between). They cover a year and seven months, and probably date from the 1790s. \r\n\r\nThe rest of the back of the book contains sketches, drawn on the leaves, of country scenes, of a percussion-cap mechanism and other drawings (in a poor hand, perhaps not that of William Palmer), calligraphic exercises and a notation of the cost of engraving letters. The back of the front board carries a pasted-in-hand-coloured engraving of a dog. The back of the first surviving leaf is pasted with eleven cuttings of inked impressions from firearms, one lettered ‘Jn Manton & Son,’ another [?] ‘Moses.’ \r\n\r\nAfter the completion of the accounts most of the backs of the leaves were filled with pasted -in cuttings, covering up many of the accounts. This probably took place early in the nineteenth century. The cuttings have since been removed and placed on new sheets, in a different order. The cuttings represent drawings (including designs for engraving), prints (including trade-cards and book-plates, and inked impressions from the engraved metal parts of firearms, from engraved spoon handles, buttons, snuff boxes, and a silver mug, as well as from a large number of unspecifiable types of metalwork. While gun impressions are chiefly ornament, the other impressions are mainly armorial. The cuttings were originally arranged very broadly by motif, and were presumably intended to function as a design resource. The missing account pages were perhaps cut out for the cuttings they bore. \r\n\r\nWhile some of the cuttings date from as early as the 1720s, most of the inked impressions from firearms date from the period of William Palmer’s working life, and probably represent his work. One gun engraving is stamped ‘WP,’ while others bear inscriptions for the same gunmakers listed in the manuscript accounts. It is probable that most of the impressions from other types of engraving also represent his work. The trade-cards, later book-plates and tobacco papers may also be by him. The drawings are by several hands of varying degrees of accomplishment. While these drawings presumably include designs by William Palmer, they are also evidence of the firearm-engraving activity of others, working after Palmer’s death. One gun impression is signed ‘JP,’ while among the loose drawings are sheets dateable to after 1828 and 1842. These individuals were perhaps members of the Palmer family. \r\n\r\nWilliam Palmer was born on 29th January 1735, in the Parish of St. James, Piccadilly. He was apprenticed in 1753 to the engraver John Pine and in 1757 to Richard William Searle, a map and globe maker. By 11762 he had been made free of the Goldsmith’s Company, and by 1764 had married. Palmer’s business was evidently that of a general engraver, for he is variously described as a writing engraver and map and globe maker. Between 1765 and 1803 he took on eight apprentices. He was succeeded in his business by his son, Willliam, born in 1768. \r\n\r\nLITERATURE: \r\n-\tEric Griffin, William Palmer Master Engraver 1737-1812 of New Street Square in the Parish of St. Brides London & 1 Rufford Buildings in the Parish of St. Mary’s Islington, privately printed, c. 1992. \r\n-\tEric Griffin, ‘William Palmer, Engraver to the Great London Gunmakers,’ Arms Collection, vol. 34, no. 1, Feb 1996. \r\n-\tEric Griffin, ‘The Account Book of William Palmer, Master Engraver 1725-1812,’ Silver Society Journal, Autumn 1998, pp53-55. \r\n","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Modern page on which individual cuttings have been remounted from an 18th century gun engraver's account book and related sheets of designs for gun-pulls, designed by William Palmer. Britain, 1780-1800.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.2459:61-1992"],"accessionNumberNum":"2459","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1992,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-07","recordCreationDate":"2009-03-18","availableToBook":false}}