Victorian-Era Writing Slope (Yes, Another One)

[Shangas]

I went to the country this weekend, bargain-hunting at antiques fair. I came back with this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, it's quite rough. It needs inkwells and a key.

Edited January 25, 2015 by Shangas

[______Zaphod_Beeblebrox]

Way cool find!

[my63]

Very nice I have been after one of those for a number of years leather conditioner will work wonders on that leather covering.

[Hangglidernerd]

Great find.

[Shangas]

Trying to find inkwells. Gonna use little 15-or-20ml medicine jars as inkwells. They'll fit.

[strawberry]

Wow!

[dgturner]

Very cool.

[PaperDarts]

Terrific find! Were the dip pens inside when you bought it or did you put them in for the photo?

[cleosmama]

I love that writing slope. Very cool.

[inkstainedruth]

What's the deal with the 4th photo from the top (the one with the two white rectangles)? What are those (I can't believe they'd just be decorative; well, it's Victorian, so maybe they would be...).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Shangas]

They're the Aide Memoir. Used for scribbling down notes, and then erasing them later.

 

I have discovered that this box is 130 years old. There's a date inside that says "July, 14th, 1882".

 

There's also "Tyalla, Toorak".

 

Tyalla was the estate of a local Melbourne businessman, William Gibson (1842-1918), who ran Foy & Gibson's, an Australian chain of department stores, from the 1880s-1960s.

 

I think that this box belonged to him.

[Shangas]

I've given the box a good scrubdown and found two identical little glass medicine jars with metal screw-lids, to act as inkwells. They pop in properly and are a very nice, comfortable fit, and are exactly the right height.

 

Next step: Find a key.

 

I have one key which sorta-fits the lock. But not exactly. But I shall use it as a template to find another key which will be more suitable.

[Barkingpig]

I wish I lived closer to you as I had a friend whose Father had been a locksmith & she gave me 3 "fruit jars" of his "odd" keys. I have been very lucky in reusing many of them & have let many friends borrow them for same use. It has been amazing to find so many "matches" from these old jars. Another example of the joys of "hoarding!" But really how much space do 3 quart jars take up?

That is a VERY cool writing box & I am happy you found it. I also wonder if the small Sanford's "Pennit" ink bottles might fit?

[Shangas]

Sounds like a dream, BarkingPig. Pity they haven't invented teleport-booths, yet.

 

I shall take the box to the local flea-market. I know two or three folks there who sell antique keys. They should be able to help me out. I have a pretty good idea of what I need.

[Shangas]

Continued research has caused me to discard Mr. William Gibson as a potential owner for this writing-slope. The dates just don't match up.

 

However, there IS another candidate for ownership!

 

The dates, the address, and even his NAME (which I found inside the box), lead me to believe that this box may have belonged to Australian colonial politician: James Balfour (1830-1913).

 

The hunt for information continues apace...

[inkstainedruth]

They're the Aide Memoir. Used for scribbling down notes, and then erasing them later.

Do you mean they're sort of the Victorian version of whiteboards? Interesting. What are they made of and what would you use to write on them? Pencil? Ink? Chalk? Pastel? (I'm trying to think of what would be available in the 1880s and also might be easy to wipe off).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Shangas]

Basically, yes. They're like miniature whiteboards. They were traditionally made of IVORY. I'm not sure if that's what THIS is made of. I think these are just laminated card-stock.

 

But yes, you'd write on them in pencil, and then erase the marks later with an eraser or a damp cloth.

 

One of my other writing-slopes has a three-pane livory aide memoire.

 

An Aide Memoire just means "Memory Aide". Like a personal-organiser or notebook. They usually look like this:

 

http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.antiques-atlas.co.uk/dealer-stock-images/lavenderhillantiques/Antique_Ivory_ladies_Chatelain_as144a385b.jpg

 

Sheets of ivory riveted together. And then you can open and close them, and scribble on them in pencil, and then wash it off later. But they were used in writing-slopes as well.

 

I suppose if you were building a new writing slope today, you could replicate the look of an Aide Memoir using panels of plastic or whiteboard-backing or something.

[SockAddict]

So, scratch paper.

[Shangas]

Very expensive scratch-paper, but yes!!

[amk]

Most writing slopes I see have heaps of veneer and mauve velvet. This one is very different and dare I say it quite steampunk in its looks.

 

Also more efficient than most with its pen sheaths and aides-memoire. I suspect the veneer ones were often for use in the house - this is a real travelling writing case. I'm going to steal the pen-sheath idea when I restore the one I bought in a Norwich junk shop recently (veneer perfect and really rather lovely, insides completely wasted).