We have before us one of the most singular picture-books that can well be imagined; singular because unexpected in its character. It is a book containing the trade-marks of several thousand merchants, manufacturers, and shopkeepers; each device printed, in the proper size, from a block or cast of the original; and the whole collection likely to be very formidable in dimensions by-and-by. The system has sprung out of the passing of a particular Act of Parliament two years ago; and we shall best facilitate a comprehension of its nature and purport by glancing at that which preceded it.

A trade-mark and an armorial bearing have much the same meaning, however different in splendour and dignity. Each is a token to distinguish certain persons from others. In the middle ages distinguished families and famous old commercial companies had their marks; so had monasteries, abbeys, and convents; so had municipal towns and chartered guilds; so had merchants and shipowners. By degrees the mark became embodied as a trade-mark in some instances, as an heraldic shield or crest or coat-armour in others. Some noble families at the present day can shew coats of arms including (in the device) trade-marks once belonging to the founder of the family when a trader.

As a feature in legitimate commerce, it is fair and right for a man to affix to his wares some mark or symbol to distinguish them from the wares of other traders. The mark may have a significant or symbolical meaning, or it may be wholly fanciful; no matter which, provided it be his and his only. The range to choose from is so wide as to be practically limitless; for the mark may be a name, initial, signature, word, letter, device, emblem, figure, sign, seal, stamp, or diagram; and it may be impressed upon or otherwise attached to a cask, bottle, vessel, canister, case, cover, envelope, wrapper, bar, plate, ingot, sheet, bale, packet, band, reel, cork, stopper, label, or ticket. He must indeed be a difficult man to please who cannot select out of all these. A quadruped, bird, or fish; a sun, moon, star, or comet; a triangle, diamond, square, oval, or hexagon; a crescent, a castle, a ship; a portrait, medallion, or profile; a view of a warehouse or of a plantation—anything will do, if it suffices to imply 'This is mine: you must not imitate or forge it.'

No one can glance through the daily papers, in the columns relating to actions at law, without seeing evidence how jealously the privileges of trade-marks are watched by the owners; nor is it difficult to see why this jealousy is exhibited. If A possess something which has a money-value to him, B would like to possess it also if honestly obtainable, or something sufficiently like it to be equally advantageous. Unfortunately men do not always wait to consider how far honesty should actuate them. There is a vast amount of shabby peculation on the part of men who avail themselves, directly or indirectly, of other men's trade-marks, in order to obtain a share of custom which does not fairly belong to them. A belief or hope is entertained that if the public do not know exactly which is the real Simon Pure, a sham Simon may perchance come in for some of the pickings.

Suppose, for instance, there is a Macassar oil which has brought a fortune to a particular firm; another concocter of toilet 'requisites' may be tempted to adopt the same title, in the hope that the originator may fail to shew that the Straits of Macassar have really anything to do with the matter. If a compounder of pills and ointments (say Mr Jones) is driving a flourishing trade at a particular shop, and if another person (also named Jones) opens a shop close by, and sells similarly curative pills and ointments, he may hope to trade partly on the good-luck of the other, and may defy any one to prove that the surname has been falsely assumed. If a trader be making a good thing out of baking powder, and another man wraps up another (perhaps an inferior) kind of baking powder in packets printed almost exactly in the same style and wording, he trusts to an unwary public being deceived in the matter. No small difficulty has been felt at times, by judges and jurors, in determining whether a particular designation or inscription really deserves the rank of a trade-mark, and ought to be protected as such. If a man's name be combined with the name of the article sold, this would in most cases be a good trade-mark: such as Day and Martin's blacking, Delarue's playing-cards, Elkington's electro-plate, Rimmel's perfumed valentines, Reid's stout, Beaufoy's vinegar, Fortnum and Mason's hampers, Crosse and Blackwell's pickles, and the like. But if there happen to be two men of the same name in the same trade, then there may possibly be materials for wrangling, should the men be disposed to wrangle. It is for this reason that Dent's watches, Mappin's cutlery, Clarke's coals, Smith's gin, &c. would not be alone sufficient as trade-mark designations; because there are two persons or two firms entitled to use it, something additional would be needed.

The imitation of a label is one of the most prevalent modes of displaying the shabby dishonesty of those who disregard the rights conferred by a trade-mark; but brands and painted marks are imitated with equal boldness, if not so frequently. Soda-water bottles which have in the making been stamped with the name of a particular firm have, in like manner, got into the hands of persons who fill them with soda-water of an obscure and unrenowned quality. Wine-casks and cigar-boxes, branded with well-known names, have similarly been utilised by the sellers of inferior commodities. As to two Howqua's mixtures, it was shewn that there was no such person as Howqua concerned in the matter. Is it true that Birmingham manufacturers often receive orders from merchants to make certain goods, and to stamp on them certain trade-marks belonging to third parties; and that the manufacturers do this as a matter of course, 'all in the way of business?' Is it true that, in obedience to orders from wholesale houses in the Manchester goods-trade, manufacturers will sometimes put two hundred yards of sewing-thread on a reel, and paste on it a label denoting three hundred yards? If so, 'pity 'tis 'tis true.' The latter of these two ifs does not relate to a trade-mark piracy, but it is equally indicative of a shameful disregard of the principles of meum and tuum.

Foreigners have had in past years much reason to complain of English imitations of labels, inscriptions, signatures, and trade-marks. Among metal goods there was one American Company famed for the really good edge-tools manufactured by them; they were imitated at Birmingham, so far as regards a similar mark stamped on each article, or a similar label attached; of course the tools, whether good, middling, or bad, were not what they professed to be; they were worth less in the market, but were nevertheless sent forth as ifs made by the original Company—a bit of sharp practice very little creditable to the parties concerned.

Most amply have foreigners taken their revenge; indeed it is not improbable that they first began this game; seeing that they had more to gain from a great manufacturing nation than we had to gain from them in this way. Sheffield has been despoiled by them in a notable degree. Knives, files, fish-hooks, needles, &c. made very cheaply of inferior steel, receive in the German workshops (more perhaps than in those of France or Belgium) brands, marks, wrappers, and labels so closely resembling those of eminent Sheffield firms, as to deceive all but the most wary. In some instances, the foreigners have given the go-by to us with an almost superb audacity: imitating the very notification on English wrappers that to imitate that particular trade-mark is felony! Print what they may, stamp what they may, English manufacturers of high-class goods find that they cannot ward off this kind of cheatery—cheatery, not of money direct, but of the good reputation which possesses money's worth. However, international trade-mark laws are doing something to lessen this unfairness—of English towards foreigners as well as of foreigners towards English. Some further illustrations of these matters will be found in the volume of this Journal for 1859.

Now for our picture-book.

An Act of Parliament passed two years ago ordained that from and after a specified date all new trade-marks must consist of the printed or impressed or woven name of a particular firm or individual; or a copy of the written signature of the party concerned; or distinctive devices, designs, marks, headings, labels, or tickets. The scope is sufficiently wide to give an ample choice; but it must not extend to representations of the Queen, the royal family, or foreign sovereigns; nor to royal or national arms, crests, or mottoes; nor to the arms of cities, boroughs, countries, or families; nor to representations of prize or exhibition medals; nor to the use of the words 'trade-mark,' 'patent,' 'warranted,' or 'guaranteed.' No such restrictions, however, are placed upon any trade-marks that were in use before the passing of the recent Act. The Lord Chancellor and the Commissioners of Patents divide between them the carrying into effect of the new statute. A new office has been established for the registry of trade-marks, with a registrar at its head. The Lord Chancellor has framed rules and regulations, with a tariff of fees approved by the Treasury. The registry, when once granted for a trade-mark, holds good for fourteen years, and is renewable for equal periods of fourteen years on the payment of additional fees. There is so much to pay on application for registry; then so much for any and every extension to other classes of goods; then so much if there be two or more marks for the same article; then so much on actual registration; then so much for every change of name or of address; and then so much for a certificate. The outlay amounts to a good many pounds altogether, but not approaching the cost of a patent. The registrar has a certain time allowed to him between the application and the registration to make the necessary scrutiny, &c. Every application for registry, accompanied by a drawing or engraving, must give an accurate description of the trade-mark, specifying any words, &c. to which the applicant attaches special value—of course within the limits permitted by the rules.

As one registration of any trade-mark is valid only for one class of goods, a careful classification becomes necessary; and this has proved to be one of the most remarkable features in the system. Some one's brains, or the brains of more than one, must have been a good deal exercised in dividing the whole range of human industry into fifty classes, and in assigning the contents of each class. For instance, the first three classes comprise chemical substances and preparations used in manufactures, agriculture, and medicine; the fourth resins, oils, and gums. Then follow three great classes to include metals, machines, and engines; four more for instruments and tools of various kinds; and two for cutlery and edge-tools. Without specifying each individually, it will suffice to say that two classes are occupied with works in the precious metals and jewellery; two with glass and china; two with building and engineering materials and appliances; two with arms, ammunition, and explosives; one for naval equipments and appliances; and one for land vehicles of all kinds. The textile branches of industry make a large demand for classification, in regard to raw materials, yarns, thread, and piece-goods: three for cotton, three for flax and hemp, one for jute, three for silk, three for wool and worsted, and one for carpeting and rugs. Saddlery and harness require one class to themselves, so does made-up clothing, so do india-rubber and gutta-percha goods. Paper, printing, and bookbinding; furniture and upholstery; food and ingredients for food; fermented and distilled liquors; aËrated and mineralised beverages; tobacco, snuff, and cigars; agricultural and horticultural seeds; candles, matches, lamp-fuel, and laundry substances; perfumery and toilet requisites; games and toys of all kinds—claim each its own class. Lastly comes class fifty, a refuge for the destitute, comprising everything 'miscellaneous,' everything for which room cannot well be found in any of the other classes. The registrar has sometimes a little difficulty in deciding to which class a particular trade-mark properly belongs.

As one of the consequences of the new Act of Parliament, a Trade-mark Journal has been established by the Commissioners; and this is our picture-book. It appears once, twice, or thrice a week, according to the requirements of the subject, and (at the time we are now writing) has reached about its seventieth number, and contains something like four thousand pictures or representations of trade-marks. To what extent the collection will increase by-and-by, no one can form even a guess. The illustrations relate to the trade-marks applied for under the new Act; and the Journal also gives the name and calling of each applicant, a description of the goods, and a statement of the length of time during which the mark has been used. The Journal thus affords all persons interested in trade-marks authoritative information as to the nature of the marks used in the respective trades. A wood-cut block or an electrotype must be forwarded to the office, representing the particular trade-mark applied for, if it is to appear in the Journal; and each quarto page is made up by printing from several such blocks or casts. Even if the mark consists only of names and words, still a block or plate must be sent representing it.

The Master, Warden, Searchers, and Assistants of the Cutlers' Company at Sheffield possess, in virtue of ancient charters, very special privileges, which the new registrar of trade-marks is not allowed to contravene. He works in harmony with the Company; and every trade-mark recognised by the latter may claim of right admission into the register. To facilitate the granting of trade-marks for cotton goods, an office has been established at Manchester for the exhibition of all marks, devices, headings, labels, tickets, letters, &c. used in the cotton trade, and locally designated 'cotton-marks' and a committee of experienced Manchester men decide which among these symbols or hieroglyphics deserve to be regarded as trade-marks for registration.

Who can count the varieties of fanciful devices that make their appearance in our picture-book? Analogy between the device and the goods is sometimes attended to; but more frequently it is thrown overboard altogether. Do we require portraits of individuals, celebrated or otherwise? Here is a sarsaparilla man, here one renowned for cod-liver oil, and anon a hero of sewing-machines; Sir Walter Raleigh is brought into requisition by a tobacco manufacturer; while a cigar-maker, taking advantage of the recent excitement connected with a famous picture, adopts a wood-cut copy of Gainsborough's 'Duchess of Devonshire.' Or are we likely to be smitten with views and landscapes? We can choose between the Egyptian pyramids lighted up with an orient sun; a view of Keswick (near which most of our black-lead for pencils is obtained); a view of a paper manufactory. In some sense apposite are a baby in a cradle, for needle-making; a broken willow-pattern plate, for a newly warranted cement; the Colossus of Rhodes [roads], for railway signals; Cupid sharpening his arrows, for emery-grinding wheels; a smart man measuring round a smart forehead, for hat-making; the sun eclipsing nearly everything, for the eclipse sauce; a dog's head, for fibrine dog-cake; four nigger plantation minstrels, for cigars; and 'No place like home' as a trade-mark motto for fenders and fire-irons.

To account for others, the fancy must make wide excursions indeed. A maker of edge-tools adopts stars and crowns, a monkey eating an apple, an elephant's head, oxen and lions with initials on their flanks, a negro's head, a cassowary, a boot, a sledge; and the head of an Aztec accompanied by the inscription: 'Look for this stamp on each tool, if you want a genuine article made from electro-boragic cast-steel.' A locomotive does not seem specially suitable as a trade-mark for silk goods; nor a rearing and roaring white lion for Portland cement; nor a feudal castle for good hosiery; nor a crowing cock for artificial manure; nor a helmsman at the wheel for aËrated waters; nor a tearing ranting buffalo for floor-cloth.