Kent Gallery Ltd. photograph albums
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Kent Gallery Ltd. photograph albums
Classmark: MS 2261
Creator(s): Kent Gallery Limited
Date(s): 1920-1932
Size and medium: 2 photograph albums; manuscript papers
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/722937
Collection group(s): Art and Antique Market
Description
The collection comprises two photograph albums which contain photographs of the stock of the antique furniture dealers' Kent Gallery Ltd. The albums were used as inventories of stock and possibly to show customers what the gallery had for sale.
The pages of the albums are numbered. Both are half leather bound and gold tooled.
1) Album 1 includes black and white photographs of chairs, armchairs, mirrors and sideboards. The photographs have been pasted into the album. Some have subsequently been removed.
The numbers of the negatives are written on the page next to the photographs sometimes in ink, sometimes in pencil. On some pages the word 'sold' appears.
Album 1 is not completely full. The album contains two slips of paper with handwritten notes on them. One is dated 1928.
There is a label on the front of album 1 which says 'Photographs (Old Book) Photographs taken.
2) Album 2 contains photographs of mirrors Some of the photographs are of the details of individual mirrors. Most of the photographs are pasted in. A few have been inserted using photograph corners. The album is not full.
The stock numbers and negative numbers are written in ink and pencil on the pages next to the photographs. The measurements of some of the mirrors have been written next to the photographs. The word 'sold' appears by some. Two have sold dates 1931 and 1932 respectively.
The title 'Mirrors Vol. 1' is on the spine in gold tooling. There is a label on the front which says 'Photographs of mirrors'.
Biography or history
The Kent Gallery Ltd. were a leading dealer in antique furniture in the early to mid-20th century. Their main headquarters was in Conduit Street, London. Edward Horace Benjamin (1877-1939) established the business early in the 20th century. He was joined in the early 1920s by Maurice Harris (b.1900) and Lionel Harris Junior (b.1903) . The Kent Gallery appears to have been taken over by the Harris family. From the 1920s it specialised in selling antique English furniture.
Provenance
Transferred from the V&A Museum. The albums were originally given to the V&A by the antique dealer R. A. Lee in 1973, but never accessioned into the museum's collection.
Access and usage
Reproduction
Access
This material is not subject to restrictions under Data Protection or other relevant legislation that might limit access. However, other protections, such as donor conditions or conservation considerations, may still apply where advised.
Material in this collection may be unavailable on conservation grounds. Access is at the discretion of the Conservation Officer.
Material in this collection is in copyright. Photocopies or digital images can only be supplied by the Library for research or private study within the terms of copyright legislation. It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain the copyright holder's permission to reproduce for any other purpose. Guidance is available on tracing copyright status and ownership.