English Fabric Sample Book, circa 1830's
Titled in gilt to the spine Rossendale Collection Printed Cottons 1838/40 and numbered 56 in white, it encloses small fabric samples approximately 4cm by 7.5cm, the majority of pages are hand written and numbered in black ink with design codes and some dates, the earliest being May 16th 1838 to April 4th 1840, the cotton samples are printed in a variety of colours and designs including green, black, yellow, brown, blue, white, pink, purple, red and orange, the maximum on a page are 35
28cm by 43cm by 9cm
128 double sided pages (including two blank pages), over 5,500 cotton samples, however approximately 10% of the fabrics are missing or have been cut
In a ledger mounted with blue fabric and black leather corners and spine

Rossendale nestles in the Forest of Rossendale in Lancashire, situated by the River Irwell which flows from the Pennines towards Manchester. The Lancashire textile industry was an integral part and direct result of the Industrial Revolution, which resulted in the region becoming a leading economic force between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries. They achieved this by being at the forefront of innovation, adopting both steam power and the factory-based system of production

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