Perry & Co – London
History
In the early 19th century a school teacher named James Perry was dissatisfied with the quality of pens available for his students so he started to make his own by hand. At the time the majority of pens were the dip style which in 1822 was just starting to be mass produced in Birmingham. Dip pens were composed of two parts, a steel pen nib with a slit to hold ink that fit onto a cylindrical shaft which could easily be held in the hand. To use the pen it had to be dipped into a container of ink. The James Perry & Co firm was established in 1824 in Manchester and shortly thereafter moved to London. In 1829 a small pen maker from Birmingham named Josiah Mason discovered and purchased a Perry pen in a shop while visiting London. After making some modifications to the pen nib, Mr. Mason presented it to Mr. Perry. Perry was so impressed that he contracted with Mason to produce the new pens under the Perry name at Masons’ Birmingham factory for the next 46 years. Sometime between 1847 and 1866 the James Perry & Co name was change to Perry & Co. Then in 1876 the Perry and Mason companies were merged with another pen manufacturer to create Perry & Co Ltd, becoming the largest pen manufacturer in the world.
Perry & Co was also known for making and selling pen related products such as pen holders, pencils and pencil holders, inkwells, paper clips, other stationer’s supplies and fancy goods. In 1871 the company had warehouses and depots in London, Brussels and Amsterdam. By 1876 they had expanded to Frankfurt and New York, and a few years later added a depot in Paris. From at least 1871 through 1882 the company sold a variety of items through their wholesale catalogue entitled, Perry & Co.’s Monthly Illustrated Price Current, although not all of the merchandize in the catalogue was manufactured by Perry. Often arrangements were made with other firms so the Perry name could be placed on a wide variety of items. Perry & Co Ltd continued to manufacture pens until 1961 when the firm was sold to British Pens.
Needle Cases
During the 1870’s, the fancy goods listed in Perry’s catalogues included needle cases patented by J. W. Lewis of Birmingham (Gem, Beatrice, Alexandra and Unique), H. Milward & Sons of Redditch (Fan with and without brass covers) and W. Avery & Son of Redditch (Quadruple, Shield, Peacock, Fir Cone, Rose Pin and Hedgehog). Because at least three of these needle case designs have been found with the Perry name on them, Perry obviously entered into license agreements with J. W. Lewis for the Gem and W. Avery & Son for the Quadruple Golden Casket with Fleur de Lis and the Postal Weight. Although earlier publications assumed a receptacle in the shape of a Gladstone Bag marked Perry & Co London was also a needle case, recent discovery of the 1878 patent to Perry & Co clearly states that it was a pen nib box. To date no evidence has been uncovered to suggest that Perry & Co ever patented or manufactured any needle cases.
Sources
The British Library Business and Intellectual Property Centre, London – Patents:
- #603 dated March 4, 1867 – Beatrice amd Gem Needle Case patent to James William Lewis, Birmingham and George Archbold, Handsworth.
- #3517 dated November 9, 1868 – Quadruple Golden Casket patent to William Avery & Albert Fenton, Redditch.
Charles, A. A. S. The Steel Pen Trade 1930-1980. Available at www.calligraphy.co.uk/about/asp in January 2013.
The National Archives in Kew, UK – Design Registrations:
- #299244 dated March 17, 1876 (BT 43/40 and BT 44/3) – Postal Weight registered to W. Avery & Son, Redditch.
- #325870 dated September 6, 1878 (BT 43/44 and BT 44/4) – Pen box in the shape of a Gladstone Bag registered to Perry & Co Limited of 36 Lancaster Street, Birmingham.
The Pen Trade – Available at http://bobmiles.bulldoghome.com/pages/bobmiles_bulldgodhome_com/more pentrade.htm in January 2013.
Perry & Co – Available at Wikipedia for January 2013.
Perry and Co – Available at www.gracesguide.co.uk/Perry and Co in December 2012.
Perry & Co.’s Monthly Illustrated Price Current - A Medium of Inter-Communication for Merchants, Manufactures, Stationers & Dealers in Fancy Goods , Vol. 4 No. 43 - July 1871. Pages 67, 69, 87, 116 and 136. Provide to me by Larry Hanks, Chairman of the Pen Room Museum & Learning Centre, Birmingham, UK.
Perry & Co.’s Monthly Illustrated Price Current - A Medium of Inter-Communication for Merchants, Manufactures, Stationers & Dealers in Fancy Goods, Vol. 9, No. 97 - January 1876. Pages 73 and 109. Available on Google Books.
Perry & Co.’s Monthly Illustrated Price Current - A Medium of Inter-Communication for Merchants, Manufactures, Stationers & Dealers in Fancy Goods, Vol. 15, No. 159 - January 1882. Available on Google Books.
Stanyard, Robert. The Pen Makers of Birmingham 1818-2011. Available in the gift shop at the Pen Room Museum in Birmingham, UK.
