RARE EARLY GEORGIAN OPTICIAN’S TRADE CARD / LABEL
JOHN JONES, HOLBORN – “ARCHIMEDES” – c.1760s–1770s

A fascinating and apparently very early Georgian trade card associated with the Holborn optical-instrument business of John Jones (1736/7–1808), precursor of the celebrated W. & S. Jones firm.

The small engraved device is headed:

“ARCHIMEDES”

and depicts Archimedes using a long telescope, accompanied by two large circular optical glasses/lenses and enclosed within an elaborate scrolling rococo-style cartouche.

Across the card is printed:

“The only MAKERS … in HOLBORN.”

The reverse bears an old manuscript inscription:

“Verre de lunette”

French for telescope glass/lens, an especially appropriate annotation given the optical subject and trade represented on the front.

JOHN JONES AND THE HOLBORN BUSINESS

John Jones is documented as being in business in the Holborn area as an optician by 1776, while his son William Jones was apprenticed to him around this time. By 1782 Jones was trading at 135 Holborn, and by 1784 William was in partnership with his father.

Surviving published evidence shows the later development of the concern particularly clearly. A catalogue recorded by the Wellcome Collection advertises optical, mathematical and philosophical instruments made and sold by John Jones and Son at No. 135, near Furnival’s Inn, Holborn in 1784.

An equivalent 1787 catalogue survives for John Jones and Son at 135 Holborn.

In 1791 the business passed into the familiar partnership of William Jones and Samuel Jones, with a surviving W. & S. Jones catalogue identifying the firm at No. 135 Holborn.

The Jones firm became strongly associated with the sign of Archimedes. Grace’s Guide specifically records that W. & S. Jones traded under the sign of Archimedes at 135 Holborn, next to Furnival’s Inn.

The Science Museum Group Collection likewise records W. & S. Jones as mathematical, optical and philosophical instrument makers, later trading at 30 Holborn.

AN APPARENTLY VERY EARLY FORM OF THE “ARCHIMEDES” BRANDING

What makes this example particularly intriguing is its apparently early and extremely simple form.

Unlike the better-known later W. & S. Jones advertising, there is no proprietor’s name, street number or lengthy description of wares. Instead, the trade sign itself dominates:

ARCHIMEDES

with the simple claim:

“The only MAKERS … in HOLBORN.”

The later trade card preserved by the Science Museum Group, dated 1795–1822, is considerably more explicit, identifying “W & S Jones, at the Archimedes, 30, Lower Holborn” and describing the concern as philosophical, mathematical and optical instrument makers.

The present piece therefore appears to represent a much earlier manifestation of the Jones “Archimedes” identity, potentially from the earliest period of John Jones’s Holborn optical business.

DATE

Probably c.1760s–1770s.

Stylistically, the rococo ornament, relatively archaic engraved treatment, handmade paper, abbreviated wording and reliance upon the pictorial shop sign all suggest an early Georgian date.

A date in the 1760s is quite plausible on stylistic grounds, although this should be regarded as an attribution rather than a securely documented date. What can presently be established from published sources is that John Jones was trading as an optician in the Holborn area by 1776.

The card may therefore preserve unusually early evidence for the Archimedes trade identity subsequently associated with the Jones firm, potentially predating the better-documented John Jones & Son and W. & S. Jones periods.

The considerable creasing and informal manuscript annotation are entirely consistent with this having been a working piece of trade ephemera rather than a purely decorative print.

A scarce and potentially significant survival from the early history of one of Georgian London’s best-known scientific and optical instrument-making businesses.

Provenance: 

From the collection of a long established Richmond-upon-Thames resident, focusing on 17th to 19th century trade ephemera, theatre handbills and Acts of Parliament.