04 May Notes on a Collection of Antique Tool Catalogs
Pecking for treasures in the Internet Archive
Recently we discovered the International Tool Catalog Library on the Internet Archive. This extraordinary resource contains over 5,600 digitized antique and vintage hardware trade catalogs and advertisements from hardware magazines. Some capture publications dating back to the 1800s. The oldest general tool catalog, John Walker’s General List of Prices of Hardware, Saddlery, Plated and Japanned Wares, Cutlery, &c, dates to 1823. Credit for this amazing collection appears due to the Mid-West Tool Collectors Association.
As accurately described on the archive website, the “collection is a resource for tool users, collectors, sellers, historians, teachers, and descendants of tool manufacturer’s owners and employees.” Essentially the e-commerce websites of another era, the catalogs express a business pride in service and manufacturing excellence that we feel seems lost to our time. Many also contain beautiful engravings of the various products.
Paging through just one book, “Catalog No. 100” from Chicago’s Geo. B. Carpenter & Co, one can find everything from aneroid barometers to zigzag rules. The firm humbly states that the 700-page volume was compiled to comply “with the request of many of our customers for a complete and compact catalog of our business . . . , which we trust will meet with general approval.” The catalog, and the entire collection, should certainly do that and more.