18th Century Leather Pocketbooks & Letter-Cases
Some of the Morocco leather pocket books & letter cases — especially those inscribed “Constantinople” or “Tetuan” — were probably souvenirs of a Grand Tour. However, Morocco leather and red leather pocketbooks and cases could also be purchased in shops in England and the American Colonies; see advertisements from Barnabas Hughes in Baltimore (Maryland Gazette, July 26, 1764) or Catherine Rathell in Fredericksburg (Virginia Gazette, July 23, 1767), for example.
N.B.: I am not (at present) clear on the difference between a leather “pocket book” and a leather “letter case.” These are clearly different objects in the 18th century; “Andrew Dawſon, convicted of ſtealing a red Morocco Leather Pocket-Book, and Letter-Case” (Jackson’s Oxford Journal, May 9, 1767) has stolen two very different items. Some pocket books are leather coverings with a clasp to hold a book or memo-book (or, as Johnson defined a pocketbook, “a paper book carried in the pocket for haſty notes“); some letter-cases are made to hold one or more flat documents, often more like an envelope or a portfolio. There may be some flexibility between the two terms; this 1716 trial of a pickpocket refers to the stolen object as both a “Letter-Case” and a “Pocket-Book.”
Additional Resources
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18th Century Material Culture: Leather Pocket Books
18th Century Style Men’s Pocketbook and pattern
18th Century Wallet/Pocket Book, with Pattern
Two Men’s Leather Letter Cases: Mercantile Pride and Hierarchies of Display in Small Things in the Eighteenth Century
18th century trade cards illustrating pocket books & letter cases
© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.
What did they carry?
Several trials in the Proceedings of the Old Bailey also describe similar pocketbooks and letter cases, along with what they contained.
Red Morocco leather pocketbooks & letter cases
V&A T.55-1940, embroidered “IEREMIAH•HANCOCK / ANNO / 1724” and “TETVAN”
Colonial Williamsburg 1936-587, embroidered “1727” and “TETVAN”
Dominic Winter 30th Jul, 2020, Lot 145, one embroidered “CHA. BRATTONE / 1731” and “TETUAN”, another embroidered “D. CHAPEAU / 1754” and “TETUAN”
Colonial Williamsburg 1985-231, embroidered “GODFREY HEATHCOTE / CHESTERFIELD / 1755” and “TETUAN”
Colonial Williamsburg 2007-99, portfolio with “MONSIEUR BIÉ” stamped in gold, c. 1760-1790
Colonial Williamsburg 2011-120, “WILLIAM BROGDON 1766” stamped in gold
V&A T.56-1940, embroidered “Iams McEvoy Piccadilly / LONDON / 1768” and “TETUAN”
Christie’s 11 Apr 2014, embroidered “Constantinople 1772”
V&A T.108-1953, red Morocco leather pocketbook inscribed “HENRY DAVIS / No. 25 Wilegate [not clear] Street / LONDON” and “TETUAN / 1776”
Bonhams 10 April 2008, Lot 282, embroidered “Conſtantinopel / 1779”
Christie’s 30 Apr 2014, Lot 154, embroidered in silver thread “Constantinople / 1792 / Miss M.G.Lee”
Maine Historical Society 2008.244.002, “Large red leather pocketbook embossed 'JOHN PETERS, 1799' in gold. Embossed scalloped design on edges. Opens to reveal several accordioned compartments, some lined with red marbelized paper.”
Embossed leather pocketbooks & letter cases
Colonial Williamsburg 1960-347, with “Constantinople / 1696” embossed on the exterior
Grogan & Company June 11, 2017, Lot 363, embossed with “Boston,” and dated to 1760
Winterthur 1965.2186, embossed with “WOODSTOCK”
Winterthur 1953.0063, c. 1760-1830, embossed with “M ◇ I” and “1763”
Winterthur 1965.2180, with “Succeſs to Waſhington / 1775” inscribed on the surfaces
Maine Historical Society 2004.371.001, “A brown leather wallet with a brass clasp that has three settings. Embossed decorative pinstriping. Two pockets on the inside. Says 'Dominicus Libby/his book October 28/th 1776' in ink on one side of the interior and 'Dominicus Libby' on the other side.”
Winterthur 1965.2184, with “Rhode Island” embossed on the exterior, 1777
Deerfield 95.009, “Man's double fold wallet or pocketbook, which is sometimes called a bill book, made of vegetable-tanned, hand-stamped leather. 'In defence of / amarican liberties, 1777' in a rectangle defined by stylized hearts and crosses is stamped on four sides. The shaped foldovers covering the inside pocket have three circle flower-like designs and crosses around the curved edges.”
New Hampshire Historical Society 2014.027.01, c. 1778; “Leather wallet owned by Jabez Lane (1760-1810) of Stratham, NH, c. 1778. Rectangular, two panels, folding. Embossed leather with geometric borders. 'Liberty' embossed on both sides of outer cover; 'Unity' embossed in circle on both interior panels. Serrated flap on each compartment. 'Jabez Lane of Stratham / his pocketbook' written in ink on interior panel.”
Winterthur 1958.1705, “Philadelphia” c. 1785-1810
Met 15.131, c. 1790-1800, embossed with “BENJAMIN FRANKLIN / BORN 17 JANy. 1706. DIED 17 APRIL 1790”
New Hampshire Historical Society 1978.077.02, “Newport”
Leather-covered pocket books
Colonial Williamsburg 1975-129, a folding memo pocketbook with “WILLIAM DANIEL 1777” stamped in gold
London Museum 60.86, 1793; “It contains a short romantic story, poetry and tables for recording household expenditure. The words to songs sung at Vauxhall Gardens and instructions for popular dances are also printed. Inside the cover are prints of 'Ladies in Fashionable Dresses' and the 'most Elegant Head dresses for the Year'. The pocket book was designed to be both light reading and a lifestyle guide for socially aspirant women.”
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-115 with an almanac for 1795
The Gamester Going to Bed, 1809, has a pocketbook open to a page that says “Money Lost 10.000.”
Concord Museum 2006.227, c. 1810-1830; “Leather folded pocketbook, red with single strap across front. Brown interior. Sheets of paper attached inside for notes. One pocket; pen/pencil holder.”
Portfolios and portefeuilles
Met 2019.283.122, made in France from Morocco leather, third quarter of the 18th century
Met 2001.653, made in Constantinople and finished in France in 1763-1764
Met 1978.51, France, c. 1770
Musée de l'Armée 2018.61.1, c. 1780
Christie’s 30 Apr 2014, Lot 156, stamped “SECRETARIA DEL REAL CONSEJO DEJAS ORDENES,” late 18th century or early 19th century
Other leather pocketbooks and letter cases
Freeman’s Nov 10, 2020, Lot 11, a leather pocketbook stamped “SAMUEL DONN” and “RHODE * ISLAND * 1739 *” in gold
New Hampshire Historical Society 1979.033.004, stamped in gold “TIMOTHY WALKER / 1741” on one interior flap and “OF: RUMFORD:” on the other flap
New Hampshire Historical Society 1994.510.03, double-folding leather wallet with crude stitching, signed in ink on the interior: “Samuel Lane Money Case. Stratham Dec 18. 1746.”
Winterthur 1965.2185, impressed with the words “MAY Ye 7Th 1753 / EARL WESTGATE / HIS BOOK”
New Hampshire Historical Society 1959.038.09, dated 1768
Colonial Williamsburg 1968-489, embroidered leather pocketbook inscribed “M: de Pezoid / Constantinople 1769”
Shelburne County Museum 2010.04.01, “Brown leather folding wallet, with tongue closure. Wallet has four pockets, two on each side. Stamped in gold on front is, 'Gideon White, Jun Plymouth 1771 New England'.”
Concord Museum 2006.352, fragment of a pocketbook made from a drum head, 1776
Colonial Williamsburg 1981-174, brown leather pocketbook with “HENRY HUGHES WEST GRINSTEAD / SUSSEX 1779” stamped under the flap; retains original manufacturer's label (“William Bibby, Maker, at the Black Cap, In Fenwick-ſtreet, LIVERPOOL”)
Colonial Williamsburg 1993-440, a folding leather pocketbook, made in England c. 1780
Meg Andrews 9674, a Moroccoan wallet inscribed “Daniel Wray,” 1780s
Pocketbook found on the General Carleton of Whitby, 1785
Maine Historical Society PA92, c. 1790; “A brown leather wallet/pocketbook with long strap off the outside flap to secure it closed, has two loops that it goes through. The inside of the wallet has two sections, one that has two pockets, has the remains of a maker's mark, and says 'William Taylor's Roxby/near/Boston', the second has a flap over one compartment.”
1959.0748, possibly New York, c. 1790-1820
New Hampshire Historical Society 1993.043, cowhide wallet owned by Evan Bartlett, c. 1800
Maine Historical Society A72-33-1, c. 1800; “A tan leather pocketbook/wallet. Has a long strap that comes off the flap on the outside that goes through two loops. The inside lined with whitish leather. A double pocket on each side inside, one with an additional flap over it.”