Pattern book

This rare despatch book was produced by Ives and Baseley, who were the ‘market leaders’ of their day in the Norwich textile trade. It dates from 1791. The despatch book contains a wide range of textile samples and lists the dates that orders were despatched. The brightly coloured strips include examples of fabrics such as calimancoes, sattins, bays and tabretts. Before the industrial revolution, from 1600 to 1800, Norwich was one of the few English cities to have a large and developed industrial specialism. It was famous for its brightly-coloured and patterned worsted cloths.These had many different trade names but were collectively known as ‘Norwich Stuffs’.