Price List - Allen Brothers, Wholesale Dealers, Importers and Manufacturers of Photograph Materials, Mats and Picture Frames
Allen
Brothers, 14 and 10 East Larned Street, Detroit, MI
Undated - c.1882
This is a catalog containing a considerable number of wet plate related articles, e.g., three neck clamps for posing. It also contains equipment from both Scovill Mfg Co./American Optical and E. & H.T. Anthony & Co. The engravings of a photographer and his dry plate equipment also can be found in an Anthony brochure, unfortunately also undated, but 1882 is close.
The cover damage shown below is as received, with chipping all along the right side. I was worried that, during scanning, the vertical crack through the "A" in Allen would separate completely, the crack being already halfway separated. But the book has suffered no noticable damage from the scanning process. For would be scanners reading this, the easiest part to damage is the spine, which must be prevented from opening. After years of building up strong fingertips trying to hold spines closed, I find that a much better job is done by clamping the spine from one end to the other with chrome plated binder clips (in this case six 1" clips). With all those clips the spine stays safely closed while the pages are spread apart. One should probably use many binder clips whenever reading an antique catalog. Lastly, these pages were still supple. Nothing can be done to scan brittle pages without damage.
