The Smythson Stationery Museum
Thursday 19 June 2014
We shall tell you about what happened to last week's visit when the pain is a little less acute... But for now, let me tell you about this morning.
Mary is sailing around the west coast of Scotland, Linda is in France, so I was on my own for a trip to New Bond Street, and possibly the smallest museum on our list: Smythson's Stationery Museum.
Smythson's is a long-established stationery store, full of beautiful things. They have a tiny museum room, with six cases, to which I was directed by charming staff,
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A set of Bridge scoring pencils dated from 1970, but there were several earlier items. I admired the bespoke stationery of the Maharaja of Baroda from 1926, and various bespoke seals from the fist half of the 20th century.
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But perhaps the most remarkable case contained the 'Featherlight Monitor Bag' of 1905, proclaimed to be 'the best London make'. I had to ask what it was for, though it is clearly a doctor-type bag. And so it is: the glass jars and bottles, all with monogrammed lids, were for collecting specimens of this and that, such as doctors still enjoy.
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As well as the cases in the museum, the spacious rooms of the main shop also have historic items in glass cloches. I was not particularly taken with the whiskey-soda set from 1920 in the form of three fake books, but I loved the 1909 leather clutch bag, 'a very convenient and portable arrangement', and the 'featherweight pocket diary: may be carried in the breast pocket without the least disfigurement'. Clearly all the well-dressed chaps of 1908 would have one.
Then there was a 'pocket flask in solid leather slipcase' from 1902, priced at 6/-. According to the This is Money website's historic calculator, six shillings then is about £32.20 now, which sounds quite reasonable.
The rest of the shop is full of wonderful things but, as you might expect in New Bond Street, no price tags. I suppose that, if you need to ask the price ....
But if you want a holder for your tablet, your phone, your passport, your jewellery, Smythson's is a good place to vist. And even if you don't, the museum is lovely and the staff friendly.
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