[Two account books of a New Hampshire furniture-maker, 1808–1854.]

Wilton, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, 3 Apr. 1808 to 11 Feb. 1854 (principally the early 1820s). 2 vols. 4to (15.5” x 6.5”), full calf. 317 pp. of manuscript; 4to (12” x 8”), full calf. 326 pp. of manuscript.

Two rich manuscript account-books of furniture-maker Isaac Blanchard of Wilton, New Hampshire, extensively documenting his wide-ranging artisanal activities spanning five decades.

Born in Wilton, New Hampshire, Isaac Blanchard (1785–1857) was a skilled furniture-maker who provided the village of Wilton and the surrounding areas with a wide variety of finished wood products. In A. A. Livermore and S. Putnam's History of the Town of Wilton, New Hampshire (1888), Blanchard is identified as both a cabinet-maker and furniture-maker. The present account books focus principally on the period from 1808 to the early 1820s. Among the items Blanchard fashioned were candle stands, writing desks (including portable desks), bedsteads, bookcases, cradles, trunks, chests (with one, two or three drawers), tables (kitchen, dinner, dressing, work, Pembroke), and chairs (Fanback, Pembroke and bamboo). There are “clocks and cases” as well—with separate charges for setting these up. Special jobs mentioned include a desk and bookcase (for $23); six Fanback chairs ($8); two card tables ($26); a sleigh ($15), and six bamboo chairs ($11). Blanchard also crafts special "rose handles” for furniture, as well as brass hinges, pins and handles for his items.

Blanchard’s range in wood and metal crafting is considerable. His account books mention fashioning cutting boards, rakes, cheese hoops and cheese presses, coffins and coffin plates, whiffletrees, "three balls and ten pins,” churns, oxbows, canes and wash tables. One also finds glass frames, pullies, rulers, organ handles, card-table hinges, chandeliers, vegetable frames, mandrels, table legs, brick moulds, soap boxes, brass ferules, chafing-disk handles, butter tubs, mailbags, pistol stocks, clothes presses, cyder barrel bungs and taps, crutches, beehives, churn dashes, pencils, yardsticks, windlasses, signboards, and even a pen set. References are sometimes made to cheese safes, bread throughs, chair backs, veneers, table legs and plumb rules. Blanchard was clearly an expert on the turning machine—fashioning bedposts, canes, table legs, mandrels, sleigh-rollers, whipple trees, and hat blocks. The War of 1812 may account for his making military items like drumsticks, canteens, fifes, cartridge boxes and knapsacks. Some of his work is textile-related. He builds and sells a complete "spinning machine" for $10. He also repairs these items and turns bench pins, spools, whirls, and shuttles. A new loom he constructs sells for $11.

Blanchard’s shop can be reimagined by references to things like the woods he purchased for his work—beech, maple, oak, birch, ash, pine and walnut. He mentions the paints he used like Spanish brown and Spanish white; these were paints he ground onsite. There are also references to white and red lead, amber, Venetian red, verdigris, "jappaning," French Yellow, lampblack, turpentine, spirits of terebinth, “bile oil,” sandpaper, glue, putty and varnish. Blanchard has a “paint mill” that he uses and in one case rents out. Among the objects he paints are lanterns, wagons, tubs, pails, sleigh rollers and yokes, chaise wheels, floors, tables, doors, chairs, bedsteads (one red), chests, and ﬂower boxes. He also hand-letters more personal items such as canteens and trunks. More traditionally, Blanchard painted rooms and entryways, did glazing work, and installed wallpaper. He notes that he painted Samuel Hopkins’ store door green. Blanchard repairs a wide variety of items—pump boxes, looms, hoe handles, etc. He bottoms chairs and fixes wagons, parasols, guns, and paring machines. He hangs doors and does framing jobs. There are references to work on the pews and windows in the Wilton Meeting House. Credit accounts for Blanchard’s customers are given opposite their purchases. Also found here are references to hired help and a single page of weather notes.

A rare and rich document of the activities of a New Hampshire cabinet-maker in the first half of the nineteenth century.

REFERENCES: Livermore, A. A. and S. Putnam. History of the Town of Wilton, New Hampshire (Lowell, Mass.: Marden & Rowell, Printers, 1888), pp. 327, 343.

CONDITION: Wear to covers, and front cover loose; the first few gatherings are separating from the binding; no losses to the text.