P. Goedewaagen manufacturers' catalogue 1906

including historic introduction and extensive nomenclature with descriptions

Original title: Firma P. Goedewaagen & Zoon, fabrikantencatalogus uit 1906 voorzien van historische inleiding en verklarend naamregister

 

By D.H. Duco

In the year 1880 the firm P. Goedewaagen & Sons in Gouda, at that time active as pipemakers for more than three generations, expanded their assortment of clay tobacco pipes in a spectacular way. As the only factory amongst the dozens of workshops in Gouda the firm managed to built up a supply of clay pipes, so varied and interesting to guarantee worldwide sales for over thirty years. While other workshops barely survived an economic crisis and many of them had to close down, the production of Goedewaagen expanded by the year. Within half a century the firm produced and sold worldwide over 200 million clay pipes.

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As curator of the Amsterdam Pipe Museum, Don Duco has studied the history of this intriguing factory for over decennia. Like nobody else, he is able to determine the origin, meaning and popularity of every pipe design. In the introduction of this monograph he describes the growth of the assortment and introduces the different groups of pipe designs to the reader.

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The complete reprint of the manufacturers catalogue from 1906 gives a full survey of the assortment of this important Dutch factory. In fact, it shows the development of pipe styles from the late eighteenth century till the early twentieth century. Of every illustrated pipe a clear description is given including information about the origin of the shape, the meaning of the decoration and the sales price in course of time. Unique are the listings of the original names of the pipe designs. This remarkable list with authentic names could have been included because of the find of the original book of the manufacturer in which he administered his pipe shapes from 1880 onwards. This document is also the crown witness for the reconstruction of the dates that are mentioned in the catalogue.

The importance of this monograph lies in the combination of a complete facsimile of the factory's catalogue together with a deep going introduction. Rarely a manufacturers' assortment was reconstructed and so completely described and published as in this publication.

 

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Publisher: Amsterdam Pipe Museum, Pijpenkabinet Foundation, Amsterdam, 2000

ISBN 90-70849-09-7

128 pages, size 28 x 22 cm, softcover

facsimile catalogue of 1906 with 461 illustrated pipes

Price € 30 (excluding P&P)