A little bit of history
In the early 1800’s James Coats opened a cotton thread mill. The cotton thread produced by the mill had initially been created by Patrick Clark who developed a method of twisting cotton yarns together to produce an exceptionally strong thread. This thread was able to replace the more traditional material of silk in everything from needle sewing to looms.
In 1830 James and Peter Coats took over their fathers’ mills and by 1840 they were exporting substantial quantities to America. By the late 1860’s the Coats had a factory in the USA. It was not until the mid 1880’s that a new 6 cord thread was developed which was suitable for sewing machine use.
Throughout this time J & P Clark advertised using Trade Cards. There are many different sizes, shapes and styles that J & P Coats used on these cards. A few of these cards contained illustrations by Kate Greenaway.
J.P.Coats used 17 different known Kate Greenaway images in this set. There is also an 18th card but it was not known with the J.P.Coats advert. The cards exist in 7 different color variations with no one design having more that three color variations.
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