Yorkshire wool and worsted industry manuscript notebook
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: Yorkshire wool and worsted industry manuscript notebook
Classmark: YAS/MS2022
Creator(s): Brearley, John
Date(s): 1771-1773
Language: English
Size and medium: 0.3 box; 1 manuscript notebook
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/726785
Collection group(s): Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society
Description
John Brearley a cloth frizzer in Wakefield, kept this personal reference book, sometimes known as a commonplace book. He mentions that he has written and completed 11 similar notebooks.
The content focuses on his working life. He writes about buying and selling cloth, manufacturing cloth and the manufacturing process. Brearley has drawn sketches of machines, devices and power systems used in textiles and other trades, about 140 images in all.
The author makes some comments on local towns and also on good and bad conduct.
The commonplace book is c.390pp and is bound in brown leather.
Biography or history
John Brearley was a Wakefield cloth frizzer, active during the 1750s-1770s. Frizzing or frizing was an operation in finishing woolen cloth whereby the nap was raised by rough combing and then cropped with hand-shears to produce a smooth finish.
Provenance
Purchased at auction in 2020. Possibly discovered during a house demolition in Leeds in a concealed cupboard behind a fireplace.
Access and usage
Access
This collection is unavailable under the terms of the Data Protection Act. This decision will be reviewed at the appropriate date. Please contact Special Collections if you have any questions.