Pitt-Rivers and Martin Brothers

analysing the activities of a nineteenth-century collector

Pitt-Rivers and Martin Brothers

For more information about the Martin Brothers, see here.

B436 S&SWM PR papers: Martin Brothers

Ansd Nov. 4/92

Genl Pitt Rivers | Nov 2nd 1892

Dear Sir

In reference to the two Jugs which we have in hand for you we think your Monogram under the two crests on the one side would look better & balance better with the arms on the other than the two crests alone. Should this suggestion meet with your approval will you kindly let us known what the monogram shall be.

Yours obedtly

R.W. Martin & Bros

These two jugs are Add.9455vol3_p890 /1-2, I cannot see a monogram on the finished design. By this point Pitt-Rivers had acquired several other items from the pottery. The jugs are dated March 1893 in the catalogue.

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Genl Pitt Rivers | Oct 18th 1894

Dear Sir

We have today sent off the two Jugs you kindly requested us to make for you, and we are sorry to have had them so long in hand; but really this has been no fault of ours, it is entirely due to the uncertainties inseparable from the firing of our ware. You will understand this when we mention the fact that last autumn we made and fired a pair of Jugs for this order, but owing to the colour not being good we refired them at the beginning of this year, which was the next firing to the Autumn one, and instead of improving them, they unfortunately split up & of course were thus ruined. The pair we have sent you today are, as you will see, very fine indeed, in fact as beautiful as anything we have ever turned out. We have charged you 6 guineas for them - The price would have been 7 guineas had we not agreed to charge you less as we wished you to let us make a pair, instead of one to try and match the other with

We are, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

P.S. We have returned your other Jug in the same box.

This pair are Add.9455vol3_p1030 /2, eventually dated and entered as May 1895

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Ansd May 4/95

Genl Pitt Rivers | April 24th 1895

Dear Sir

We have your letter of the 21st inst and beg to thank you for the order to make you 6 mugs according to the instructions therein given. We will, of course, do our best to produce the same or similar color to the jugs, but this we cannot guarentee as the firing of this ware is very uncertain.

We are glad to hear that you like the pair of jugs, we consider them very fine specimens of our work

We are, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

No mugs are listed in the catalogue of the second collection

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Ansd May 4/95

Genl Pitt Rivers | May 2nd 1895

Dear Sir

We beg to say we have put in hand the six mugs you kindly ordered; and we suppose they are to be made for mounting the same as the two jugs you have.

With regard to the Crests we shall be obliged if you will please let us know if we can put one of the crests on three of the mugs & the other on the other three; as if both are to be put on each mug they would have to be drawn so small that they would not balance well with the arms on the other side. We think they would look best as on the jugs

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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Ansd May 18/95

Genl Pitt Rivers | May 9th 1895

Dear Sir

As you requested in your letter of the 6th inst., I send you sketches enclosed for the six mugs we have in hand for your order. I have noted & communicated to my brothers what you say as to decoration & colour though of the latter, as I mentioned in a previous letter, we cannot be certain of We will try for a black ground & black handles & leave the ornament to come a brown, unless you can suggest anything else. I suppose the arms, being the more important, should go on the right hand side of all the mugs?

Yours faithfully
Chas D. Martin

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Ansd May 18/95

Genl Pitt Rivers | May 16 1895

Dear Sir

We shall be obliged if you will kindly return us the sketches for mugs with any further suggestions you may have to make.

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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Copy

Rushmore | May 18/95

Sir,

I return the drawings of the Mugs. I think the sides wld be better with a slightly convex curve as shewn by the pencil line. I shall be glad if you will send me an estimate of the cost. Of course they will be proportionally less than the Jugs being smaller The black ground & grey figures will be best as I pointed out to you

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Ansd May 24/95

Genl Pitt Rivers | May 22nd 1895

Dear Sir

We are in receipt of yours of 18th inst and note that you wish the shape of mugs altered from what you originally ordered. The mugs have already been made the shape first given, but I have not heard yet whether any decoration has been put on them or not. I wrote requesting my brothers not to go on with them until I had written you in reference to the shape you now require. I shall be glad therefore if you will please let me know by return post which of the three shapes sketched on Nos 2 & 3 would be better for mounting than No 1 the price will be 30/- each

Yours faithfully
Chas D. Martin

[Drawings on reverse headed No 1 etc]

Please state the No. of the above which you prefer & kindly return the decorated sketches enclosed.

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Ansd Mar 4/96

Genl Pitt Rivers | Dec 11 1895

Sir

We are very sorry that your six mugs, although made, have not yet been fired - the alterations at our Pottery, mentioned in our previous letter, having taken much longer time than we expected. We shall most probably fire our kiln next month, & your mugs will be in that firing. This is the first time in twenty three years that our firing has been so delayed, & we are very sorry indeed to have thus disappointed you.

We are, Dear Sir,
Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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Genl Pitt Rivers | March 6th 1896

Sir

I am in receipt of yours of the 4th inst. & am sorry to say that owing to an accident to one of my brothers, who, through a fall, has severly injured his elbow, we have not been able to fire our kiln as we had anticipated.

It is a very unfortunate thing just now as we had already delayed our firing considerably beyond the usual time through having had to make considerable alterations & experiments with our Pottery for the production of another ware, as well as the ware we have been making now for nearly a quarter of a century.

I am going down to Southall tomorrow to see my brother & will write you again soon. I am very sorry to have disappointed you so much

Yours faithfully
Chas D. Martin

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General Pitt Rivers | April 14th 1896

Sir

We are in receipt of yours of the 11th inst. and we are very sorry you do not like the Mugs, especially as we did our best to carry out your instructions; and, although the firing of this ware is always very uncertain, as we explained to you on a previous occasion, we certainly thought we had succeeded in getting the effect you desired, & which not a few of our customers admire, hence our saying we considered the mugs had turned out satisfactorily. But as you say you are dissatisfied with them we do not desire you to keep them, for, although they bear your Arms &c. we shall have no difficulty in disposing of them [insert[ though of course at a reduced price [end insert] However, we should like to be allowed to state that we understand you to say that you liked the way the first jugs had fired better than the second ones because the work on the former was less distinct from the grounds; and although we cannot control the firing of this ware so as to be certain of producing any desired effect, we nevertheless did all we could to make them like the first pair of jugs, before mentioned.

Knowing that some effects in this ware of ours improve on acquaintance, we venture to take the liberty of asking you to keep these mugs for a little while to see if the result would be so in this instance. But should you not wish to do so, we shall be obliged if you will kindly have them carefully packed & returned to us at our Holborn address.

We are, Sir,
Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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General Pitt Rivers | June 18th 1896

Sir

We have received the 6 mugs back and are sorry they have not improved on acquaintance. We really thought you would have liked them very much because you said you preferred the first pair of Jugs to the second pair as the decoration was not so distinct from the ground on the former & the effect was like leather, & this you wrote in one of your letters describing what you wished the mugs to be like.

The clay & the treatment for color were exactly the same as used in making the two pairs of jugs above referred to. and the difference in the result is only due to the uncertain firing of this ware which, as we explained before, cannot be covered up in the kiln, as it is all salt-glazed - that is when the ware is got to a while heat salt is put into the fires & into the kiln & the vapour of the salt attacks the ware & the surface is melted.

The colours are affected by many things quite out of our control, amongst them flames & vapours, which play about the ware & may produce either good or bad results, or peculiar effects.

Will you kindly let us know if the shape decoration &c are as you wished & if we shall put 1896 on the mugs when we endeavour to meet your wishes

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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Rushmore | Salisbury | July 22nd 1896

Messrs R.W. Martin & Brothers

Sirs,

I am directed by General Pitt-Rivers, in reply to your letter of June 18th, to say that you may proceed to make the six Mugs as you propose, with the same design as before, but the shape must correspond with the enclosed drawing. The date will have to be altered to 1896, and General Rivers wishes the mugs to be done in the same manner as the first jugs you made.

Yours faithfully
H. Gray
For General Pitt-Rivers

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General Pitt Rivers | Oct 15 1896

Sir

We beg to say we are about to make the six mugs again & should be glad if you could kindly let us have the Jug you like, so that we could see if it really was treated in any way differently from the six mugs which you returned, or was, as we feel certain, simply different on account of the firing, as we mentioned in our letters.

We should also like to know if the mugs are intended to be mounted, as if so it would be better to have the top rim cut back a little to take the mount.

We are, Sir,
Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Bros

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Ansd June 4/97

General Pitt Rivers | June 2 1897

Sir

We beg to say we have today sent you, per Parcel Post, a Mug - one of the second half dozen made & shaped according to you sketch, and dated 1896. These were fired some months ago, but we did not send them to you because they fired so much like those you returned, and our only object in sending this one now is, that we are making them again, and this is the year of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee we thought you might like to suggest some slight reference to it to be put on the mugs. Of course we should put 1897. We could put VR [insert] or V.R.I. [end insert] 1837-1897 on the front, or this

V.R.I.

1837

1897

We will try another way this time to get more contrast between the ground and the decoration. We have sold all the mugs but two. An early answer will oblige

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Brothers

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General Pitt Rivers | June 9th 1897

Sir

We beg to say we are in receipt of your letter of the 4th inst, and also the Mug. We should have acknowledged same sooner but have been away until this morning.

We will note your remarks in reference to the mugs we now making [sic]

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Brothers

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General Pitt Rivers | Dec 18 1897

Sir

We have today sent you, per Parcel post, three Mugs - we are sorry to say, the other three came out of the kiln cracked. The coloring this time we think is more like what you wanted. The cracked ones are just the same in color as those sent.

We shall be glad to know if you would like us to make the other three again, to complete the half dozen, and if so whether you would like to have the cracked ones in the mean time.

Yours faithfully
R.W. Martin & Brothers

Transcribed by AP for Rethinking Pitt-Rivers project August 2011

Pitt-Rivers and Martin Brothers

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