Unplugged tech: tools for glaziers, plumbers, and painters

The British Museum holds a large collection of trade cards like this undated example: the calling card of one John Oliver, maker and repairer of tools for glaziers, plumbers, and painters, festooned with a diverse array of tools (and ornamented at the top with what looks like Masonic imagery). It’s a reminder of the florid specialization of technology, in which even the specialists’ tools have their own specialists. An evocative detail for bloggers to note: Oliver kept quarters in Grub Street near Moorefields, next door to Bedlam Hospital in London district that was home to poor hack writers.