JND 233/1 (Please quote this number if requesting this item)

RHODES & SONS.   Bradford: Past & Present. A Sketch of the Progress of the Town from the Earliest Period.   Bradford: J. F. Rhodes & Sons, 54 Kirkgate, 1890. 98 pages.

This is a remarkable book. So also was 98 pages for 1d.! It is a publication marketed by a grocery shop which is a full and well-illustrated history of Bradford. The text and illustrations are excellent, with engravings of old street scenes and line drawings of local celebrities of the time. Of particular interest today is the information about the products advertised by the publishers, J. F. Rhodes & Sons, Grocers. Every page has a strap line featuring one of the shop’s grocery products, of which the following are a few:

• Rhodes’s Lump Butter is always unique
• Rhodes’s 2s. Teas, is the Tea Drinker’s Favourite
• Rhodes’s are Agents for Armour Ox Tongues
• Rhodes’s Coffee is roasted daily
• Rhodes’s White Cheshire Cheese

There are several full-page adverts for such products as Reckitt’s Starch, Brown & Polson’s Corn Flour, and Kilvert’s Pure Lard.    The engravings are a little faded, but full of historical interest, with horse-drawn and steam trams, a balloon ascent and a boy in the hand-stocks in Kirkgate! Illustrated are:

• The Old Cockpit
• The Old Market Place
• The New Midland Station
• Forster Square
• The Old Manor Hall
• Old Wool Pack Inn
• Old Broadstones
• Old paper Hall
• Old Piece Hall & Talbot Hotel
• The Sun Hotel
• Bowling Green Hotel
• First Balloon Ascent in Bradford
• The Alexander Theatre
• Old Theatre Royal, Duke Street
• Bradford Mechanics’ Institute
• Bull’s Head and Pillars

Stackmole