Cries, Itinerants and Services

Marcellus Laroon’s The Cryes of the City of London drawne after the life were originally published in 1687. They are a kind of advertising leaflet. The image on the left is one of 2 original title pages of The Cryes. There are quite a few from the series on display in the Cries, Itinerants and Services section among the John Jonhson exhibition at the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. The exhibition features trade ephemera - A Nation of Shopkeepers - issued between 1654 and 1860.

The image on the right (c. 1637) shows 'singing glasses', a type of glass horn or trumpet in whose mouthpiece was a music (or noise) making reed. It is thought that (the now defunct) novelty glass items were either exempt or ignored by the then trade controls exerted by the Company of Glass-Sellers. [Thanks Bibi - via]