Special Nottingham lace curtain parcels

After all the excitement of conferences and exhibitions I’m back doing some curtain research this week. In particular I’ve been looking at a catalogue from the Peach company of Nottingham for 1904. Peach sold lace, curtains, linens and hosiery but I’ve been studying their special lace curtain parcels. These were assembled and sold for specific types of houses. The cheapest at 12/6 is the Triumph parcel which ‘is recommended where large size curtains are not required’ and boasts of their hard-wearing qualities. However, although aimed at the less well-off home, it contains one pair of curtains for a dining room, a sitting room, and a bedroom as well as one lace guipure sideboard cover and two fancy lace mats. There are also country house parcels, a frilled curtain parcel, a wedding present parcel and at £5 10/- a mansion parcel! The latter includes two pairs of curtains for the drawing room and two for the dining room. One pair for the breakfast room and four pairs for bedrooms. Also for the bedroom are a lace bedspread, a table centre, and six dressing table mats, while for the living rooms there are two antimacassars, a table cover and a sideboard cover. These are all described as ‘exquisite designs and the curtains are the best machinery can produce’ – however they may not be so hard-wearing!