Harrop and Ogden Collection

The partnership of George A. Harrop and James Ogden first appears in Manchester trade directories in 1894. They were merchant calico printers, purchasing designs for their own use, and having them printed by a North West calico printer - possibly Edmund Potter and Co. who has a nearby Manchester office. The partnership lasted until 1906, after which date the company continued under a new partnership called G.A. Harrop and Co., jointly run by Harrop and Harry Ernest Berry, By 1915, Berry seems to have taken over full management and ownership, and in 1920, he established the firm as a limited company. When the company was eventually wound up in 1932, a valuation estimated the 'goodwill, trade fixtures, and pattern books' at £109, and the copper rollers at £4364. The company that printed for Harrop probably acquired the pattern books at that time. Dated notes in some books indicate that by 1936 they were being used as design reference material within an English design studio.

The name Brunet is inscribed on the label of each pattern book in the group, referring to the Parisian design studio of A. Brunet. The books would have been assembled by and for Brunet, and many notes in French are evidence of their use there. Another indication of this time in Paris are playful sketches added by one of the designers - some humorous, some scatological. The books served not only for design intelligence and inspiration, but as a source of training material for apprentice designers. Under one sample is an instruction to copy it 'ten times, again and again and again.' The ability of the designers to exploit such a collection of samples is demonstrated by several examples where missing portions of the pattern have been convincingly re-created. So many French designers had been absorbed into the army that some studios were forced to close, and the trade in designs with Britain was much curtailed. It is likely that an established connection between Brunet and Harrop and Ogden for the supply of designs provided the opportunity of acquiring the pattern books. The books thus continued in design studio use. Over the years, the original paper covers were repaired and re-covered several times, and as a result the original sequence was obscured. Dates assigned later and not always accurate, although they are usually close.

See pp.80-84 of Philip Anthony Sykas, 'The Secret Life of Textiles. Six Pattern Book Archives in North West England' (Bolton Museums 2005) (q677.022 SYK)