FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
"John R. Hoole (1811-1884) emigrated to America from England, where he had been a bookbinders’ finishing tool maker, around 1830. This was very early in the history of specialist finishing tool makers (as opposed to general engravers, who had done the work in earlier centuries). The trade coalesced because of the great amount of work involved in engraving large dies for the stamping of redition bindings, not just the manufacture of small tools for one-off bindings. Hoole and his children built a flourishing firm in New York, and became a major retail bookbinders’ supplier as well as a manufacturer of finishing tools. Several other American firms had similar 19th-century arcs. Around 1890 the firm passed out of family hands and moved to Brooklyn, and surviving Hoole tools (which are common) show that the amount of machine work increased dramatically around the time of the move. With the 20th century the binders’ supplies side of the trade sloughed off, and the manufacture of finishing tools declined. Between the Great Depression and the 1960s all of Hoole’s American competitors went out of business, and after the 1960s Hoole itself probably made no finishing tools, though they remained available to make them. The firm survived because it had branched out into page-numbering machines and other metal stamps, finally declining to a one-man general machinist’s shop. Thus, the Hoole firm lived through the whole arc of the specialist bookbinders’ finishing tool maker’s trade; and all its American competitors disappeared half a century ago, leaving almost nothing to record their existence beyond the tools they made and their listings in city directories. In addition, it was at the top of the trade in America, both for size and for quality, for most of its existence. Any historical materials on the Hoole firm and how it worked are vital to understanding the finishing tool trade, which was a key supplier to the binding trade. Hoole Machine & Engraving Works New York and Brooklyn, NY 1832-1911 Addresses in Brooklyn: 29-33 Prospect Ave. ; 30 Main Street. Directory of American Toolmakers Information While the "Est" date is 1832, this name and the Brooklyn address may be post-1900. The Hooles were America's most prolific bookbinding toolmakers, including John R. Hoole and his son, William E. Hoole. Identifying Marks HOOLE/MACH.&ENG.WK'S./BROOKLYN, N.Y."
By, Tom Conroy for American Bookbinders Museum, 355 Clementina Street, San Francisco, CA.
HOOLE CATALOG:
https://archive.org/details/hoole-catalogue-79/page/n
Holle Manufacturing and Engraving Works # 999 Gilding Roll (Trident Loop)
HOOLE, John R. (1811-1884), (fl 1835-1883) engraver, button, badge maker, New York City. Starter a business dealing in buttons, badges, and later bookbinding supplies, one-time named Hoole Manufacturing & Baggage Check Company. This business continued after his death, continued into 20th century ultimately to become the American Railway Supply Company (q.v. Producers).
(William) Edmund Hoole, engraver
William Hoole E. (Edmund) Census 1880 31 yrs Lewis Day, art and book store George Frech, Train Master Charles Samuel, printing and engraving
Directory
In 1858, Edmund Hoole designed the first reversible tag, which improved baggage-handling efficiency. As more train lines and destinations became available.
More common tag manufacturers are Thomas, Robbins, W.W. Wilcox, Hoole, and Hanson.
Edmund Hoole, Baggage checks, 75 Mercer. 160 Williams. New York. New York
Manufactured by Edmund Hoole of Brooklyn, New York, these were supplied either to the POD under contract, or bought by those post offices not eligible to
Edmund Hoole started making baggage checks in the late 1860s. He continued to manufacture baggage checks until his company was absorbed by The American Railway Supply Co. in 1893.
It is quite common to see Hoole's patent "OCT 5-58" on checks not necessarily made by Hoole. This patent was for the "Reversible" baggage check. There is an example elsewhere on this sight that shows a matched pair of checks with a Robbins hallmark on one and Hoole's patent on the other. This is also further evidence that the two were in cahoots.
During these years of operation there are several known hallmarks for Hoole checks. There is a direct correlation between the hallmarks and the evolution of the company name. In 1873 the Company name was: The Hoole Baggage Check Company. By the 1880s the Company name was changed to: The Hoole Manufacturing Company. This is a great company to learn from in terms of the evolution of the hallmark they used and the chronology of the company itself. There are documents that exist from 1873 suggesting that Hoole cooperated with the John Robbins Co. of Boston in setting prices. These two companies sent notices to their customers with identical rate increase information.
Click here to see some interesting Hoole/Robbins documentation.
The following table was compiled from information obtained in the New York City Public Library (5th Ave @ 42nd Street).
| Time Frame | Address |
| 1848/1849 | no listing |
| 1850/1851 | Edmund Hoole Residence 179 William St., Business 122 William St. |
| 1854 | Edmund Hoole Engraver 175 William St Mt Vernon, NY |
| 1859/1860 | Edmund Hoole 176 Williams St., Mt. Vernon, NY. |
| 1863-1864 | no listing Civil War service? |
| 1865/1866 | Edmund Hoole 171 Williams St., NY |
| 1867 | Edmund Hoole 171 Williams St., NY. |
| 1869 | Edmund Hoole 75 Mercer St. |
| 1870/1871 | Edmund Hoole 75 Mercer St. |
| 1875 | Hoole Baggage Check Co. 75 Mercer St. |
| 1883 | Hoole Manufacturing Co., 46 Bond St. |
| 1885 | Hoole Manufacturing Co., 46 Bond St. |
| 1891 | Absorbed by American Railway Supply |
| 1893 | American Ry Supply successor to Hoole Mfg Co. 24 Park Place, NYC |
| 1894 | American Ry Supply successor to Hoole Mfg Co.
|
SOURCE: https://www.tagtown.net/hoole.html
T O K E N S
1890 ca Daniell & Son Baggage Check . . . . . Rulau Nyk 27
N U M I S M A T I C R E F E R E N C E S
R10 {1990} Bazelon and McGuinn, p 67.
BF2 {1999} Falk. Who Was Who in American Art, p 2:1610.
S58 {1999} Rulau. Standard Catalog of U.S. Tokens, Nyk 27, p 899; 479.
https://dickjohnsonsdatabank.com/hoole-john-r.html
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