Introduction

In these days of mass production by well known international brands it may seem hard to believe the vast wealth of local bottles produced in the Victorian and Edwardian periods. Though those most often spotted in antique shops or the like are those which were produced for breweries or mineral water companies, a wealth of items were also produced bearing the names of local chemists.

View of Tavistock Rd, Plymouth showing premises of RS Luke

Needless to say, most of those companies are a distant memory at best these days so there is a certain fascination in discovering their names. There is also a fascination offered by the bottles themselves, the various types, colours, materials. In a city like Plymouth there is surely also the added fascination in locating the former premises of these companies as a large proportion of the addresses used have been wiped from the map by German bombers or post-war redevelopment.

The county of Cornwall offers a rich assortment of items, from medicine bottles to pot lids. The county seems to suffer from the scarceness of such items, perhaps in part due to the small towns involved but also likely to the use of paper labeled bottles.

In the case of both localities, the recovered items give a record of only a fraction of the companies that existed, but as always it is impossible to include items that are yet to be found.

Without the dedication of the band of diggers and collectors much of this history would remain forgotten and a rich part of the social history of the region would be lost forever. This CD is a pictorial introduction to some of the knowledge accumulated over the last 30 years by this dedicated group.

There is an obvious emphasis on photographs in this CD, as they say, a picture speaks a thousand words and the use of large, colour photos brings the subject to life. As always, this CD should not be considered as a definitive record but as an initial step in the study of the subject.

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