ACCOUNT BOOK FOR WELSH TRADESMEN
[ALMANACK.]
The Daily Journal. Or, the Gentleman's and Tradesman's complete annual Accompt-Book for the Pocket, or Desk. For the Year of our Lord 1761.
London, R. Baldwin, 1761.
8vo, pp. ix, [93], 1–58, 61–84, lacking Y4; sporadic foxing, slightly toned throughout, small marginal oilstain at head; bound in contemporary green vellum sewn on two thongs sewn in; spine perished, some cracking and chipping to vellum with partial loss to upper corner of rear cover; 1761 ownership inscription of John Jones to front free endpaper, nineteenth-century ownership inscription to front flyleaf, c. 50 pp. of manuscript accounts in several hands (see below).
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The Daily Journal. Or, the Gentleman's and Tradesman's complete annual Accompt-Book for the Pocket, or Desk. For the Year of our Lord 1761.
An interesting and extremely rare account book for 1761 used by a series of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century carpenters, joiners, and a tallow chandler in Denbighshire, North Wales to record appointments, time spent on ongoing projects, and accounts.
An 1817 annotation by John Jones, ‘auctioneer’ (likely a descendant of the John Jones, carpenter and joiner, whose 1761 ownership inscription appears on the front free endpaper) describes an ‘inventory of the Roberts [family] … in the County of Denbigh’ as well as a list of items sent to auction, including a clock, a screen, and an oven, and a detailed inventory of the furniture in each room of the house. There are also notes of work done in Llangollen and on oak trees to be planted at Tyn Pistyll, as well several contributions in a looping hand made from the mid-1820s to 1830s, largely listing settled debts and money owed to clients, on several occasions one Elizabeth Knight; these are likely by David Williams, tallow chandler, whose ownership inscription appears on the front flyleaf. The majority of the contributions are by one Mr Taylor, whose 1840 ownership inscription appears on p. 18; he provides extensive lists of construction jobs and time spent on tasks for each client, including supplying flooring, constructing and casing doors, fixing shutters, and working on window frames. There are several juvenile scribblings and geometric doodles, as well as a two-page manuscript map with the inscription ‘Maria Manassen’.
Provenance:
1. Ownership inscription ‘Jno Jones / Carpenter and Joiner / his Pocket Companion or Diary for the Year 1761’ to front free endpaper.
2. Annotations by another John Jones, likely a descendant of the above, dated 1817.
3. Nineteenth-century ownership inscription ‘David Williams, Tallow Chandler’ to front free endpaper verso.
4. Ownership inscription ‘W. Taylor’, dated 4 August 1840, to p. 18, with numerous annotations in his hand.
ESTC, OCLC, and Library Hub find no copies of the Daily Journal for 1761.
