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Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts
860679
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts
Creator:
Arthur Tooth & Sons
Identifier/Call Number: 860679
Physical Description:
48.5 Linear Feet
(36 volumes)
Date (inclusive): 1871-1959
Abstract: The records of Arthur Tooth & Sons consist of an incomplete set of stock books, sales books, consignment books, and account
ledgers. They primarily focus on the transactions the firm made in London from 1871 to 1959, but also include a ledger recording
sales made in New York from 1906 to 1912.
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
catalog record for this collection. Click here for the
access policy .
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Records of Arthur Tooth and Sons, London, 1884-1976, Tate Gallery Archives, TGA 20106.
Copyright registers and correspondence between Arthur Tooth and Sons and Stanley Spencer, 1870-[c. 1960], Tate Gallery Archives,
TGA 8917.
Exhibition catalogues issued by Arthur Tooth and Sons and dating from 1878 to 1976, National Art Library, London.
Exhibition catalogues issued by Arthur Tooth and Sons and dating from 1904 to 1974, Getty Research Institute, Research Library.
Scope and Content of Collection
The records of Arthur Tooth & Sons consist of an incomplete set of stock books, sales books, consignment books, and account
ledgers. They primarily focus on the transactions the firm made in London from 1871 to 1959.
The archive includes a set of stock books dating from 1871 to 1943, which records transactions related to paintings, drawings,
prints, ceramics, sculptures, tapestries, and furniture. A set of sales books dating from 1902 to 1945 records the sales of
paintings, drawings, china, sculptures, furniture, and other objects, which were part of the firm's stock or sold on commission
by the firm. Four consignment books dating from 1929 to 1959 document the artists Arthur Tooth & Sons worked with and from
whom the gallery received consignments. A set of nine ledgers of accounts dating from 1913 to 1937, and from 1942 to 1945,
documents transactions related to specific customers.
Brief references are made throughout the archive to transactions made by the firm's branches in Paris and New York, but specific
records for the branch in Paris are not represented in the archive. Two volumes document the New York branch of Arthur Tooth
& Sons, including the sales made by the branch from 1906 to 1912. A list of the books in stock in New York is also recorded
in
Stock book 4: Other publications (1928-1943).
Arranged in five series:
Series I. Stock books, 1871-1943;
Series II. Sales books, 1902-1945;
Series III. Consignment books, 1928-1959;
Series IV. Accounts, 1913-1937, 1942-1945;
Series V. Ledgers related to the New York House, 1906-1924.
Arthur Tooth & Sons, a firm of art dealers, was established in London in 1842. In 1866, it opened a gallery at 6 Haymarket
with an exhibition dedicated to watercolor drawings. Drawings, and particularly British drawings, remained an important focus
of the firm's stock throughout the years, along with British painting. The firm also dealt in prints, was active as a print
publisher and, to a lesser extent, sold ceramics, furniture, sculpture, and books.
As of 1906, Arthur Tooth & Sons managed a branch in New York, which is documented until at least 1924, and the firm also had
a branch in Paris. Arthur Tooth & Sons made joint acquisitions with Thomas Agnew & Sons, Arnold & Tripp, M. Knoedler & Co.,
Thomas McLean, P. & D. Colnaghi, Reinhardt Galleries, and other art dealers. In the 20th century, the gallery worked with
contemporary artists such as Augustus John, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, and Matthew Smith, receiving consignments from
them as well as exhibiting their work.
The closure of the gallery is generally associated with the passing in 1972 of Dudley Tooth, who was the son of Arthur Tooth
and a director of the firm.
The firm's business premises have included: 5 & 6 Haymarket; 155 New Bond Street; and 31 Bruton Street. The branch in New
York was established at several successive addresses (299 Fifth Avenue; 709 Fifth Avenue; 716 Fifth Avenue) and the branch
in Paris was located at 41 boulevard des Capucines.
Sources consulted:
The London Gallery Project, s.v. "Arthur Tooth and Sons," viewed November 2, 2022, https://learn.bowdoin.edu/fletcher/london-gallery/
For an analysis of the purchases and sales made by Arthur Tooth and Sons in 1870 and 1871, see:
Bayer, Thomas M. and John Page. "Arthur Tooth: A London Art Dealer in the Spotlight, 1870-71."
Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 9/1 (Spring 2010).
For the 1866 inaugural exhibition, see
The Rise of the Modern Art Market in London, edited by Pamela Fletcher and Anne Helmreich, pages 310-311.
The archive was processed and the finding aid written by Jocelyn Gibbs with updates made in 2022 by Karen Meyer-Roux.
Acquired in 1986.
Arthur Tooth & Sons stock inventories and accounts, 1871-1959, The Getty Research Institute, Accession no. 860679.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa860679
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Subjects and Indexing Terms
Art dealers -- Archives
Art dealers -- Great Britain
Art -- Collectors and collecting
Account books
Merchandise inventories
Arthur Tooth & Sons