ssions named tot up to 745, under which
appears no less than 33,462 names. In 1824, if we are to believe the
directory, there were no factors here, no fancy repositories, no
gardeners or florists, no pearl button makers, no furniture brokers or
pawnbrokers (!), no newsagents, and, strange to say, no printer.
Photographers and electro-platers were unknown, though fifty years after
showed 68 of the one, and 77 of the latter. On the other hand, in 1824,
there were 78 auger, awlblade and gimlet makers, against 19 in 1874; 14
bellows makers, against 5; 36 buckle and 810 button makers, against 10
and 265; 52 edge tool makers and 176 locksmiths, against 18 of each in
1874; hinge-makers were reduced from 53 to 23; gilt toy makers, from 265
to 15. (Considering the immense quantity of gilt trifles now sent out
yearly, we can only account for these figures by supposing the producers
to have been entered under various other headings). Among the trades
that have vanished altogether, are steelyard makers, of whom there were
19 in 1824; saw-makers, of whom there were 26; tool-makers, of whom
there were 79, and similorers, whatever they might have been. Makers of
the time-honoured snuffers numbered 46 in 1824, and there were even
half-a-dozen manufacturers left at work in 1874. The introduction of
gas-lighting only found employ, in the first-named year, for three
gasfitters; in 1874, there were close upon 100. Pewterers and
manufacturers of articles in Britannia metal numbered 75 in 1824,
against 19 in 1874, wire-drawers in the same period coming down from 237
to 56. The Directories of the past ten years have degenerated into mere
bulky tomes, cataloguing names certainly, but published almost solely
for the benefit (?) of those tradesmen who can be coaxed into
advertising in their pages. To such an extent has this been carried,
that it is well for all advertisers to be careful when giving their
orders, that they are dealing with an established and respectable firm,
more than one bogus Directory having come under the notice of the writer
during the past year or two. The issue of a real Post Office Directory
for 1882, for which the names, trades, and addresses were to be gathered
by the letter-carriers, and no body of men could be more suitable for
the work, or be better trusted, was hailed by local tradesmen as a
decided step in advance (though little fault could be found with the
editions periodically issued by Kelly), but unfortunately