Bottle Makers and Their Marks (Toulouse, 1971)
Bibliographic detail
- Title: Bottle Makers and Their Marks
- Author: Julian Harrison Toulouse
- Year: 1971
- Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc., Camden, NJ / New York
- ISBN: TBD — verify in-hand (1971 publications often have pre-ISBN or early-ISBN imprints)
- Pagination: TBD — verify in-hand (Toulouse 1971 is a substantial reference, typically ~600+ pp)
- Format: Hardcover; standard reference-book trim
Physical description
Substantial hardcover reference book. Toulouse organized decades of bottle-mark observation into a lookup-oriented guide. Cover and binding details to be confirmed in-hand. Condition recorded as good in the accession register. The book functions as a working desk reference (frequent consultation expected); checking for any cumulative wear, marginalia, or bookmark tabs would be informative.
Provenance
Physically in-hand prior to formal library accessioning; registered to the library 2026-05-24 under the TODO-26 buildout. Accessioned as HH-BOOK-2026-0003. The book had been carried as a resources/ entry prior to this consolidation.
Why it matters
Bottle Makers and Their Marks is the standard reference for identifying glass bottle makers from mold marks — the lookup tool for embossed initials, symbols, and plant codes on bottle bases and heels. For the H&H research corpus, the book is the working desk reference for the Three Rivers Glass Co. / H&H Crystalvac attribution thread plus all the regional bottle threads connected to it.
Specifically:
- Three Rivers Glass Company marks — Toulouse documents the 3 RIVERS and TRGC-attributed marks; cross-reference for the cover image on Texas Glass (Smith, 1989) and the field-attribution of all Three Rivers-marked bottles in the H&H bottle research thread.
- Owens-Illinois marks (likely H&H Crystalvac second-supplier era, post-1937 after Three Rivers Glass closed) — Toulouse documents the I-in-an-oval mark and date codes; central to dating any Crystalvac jar found in the field.
- Six-bottle Three Rivers lot purchased 2014-06-11 from
jays-emporium(eBay) — Diamond K, Shiner-era clear crown-top, City Bottling Works, Milwaukee Drinks, Trinity Bottling Works, Dragon Bottling — Toulouse provides the maker-mark backbone for each. - Goodie Box bottle lot (Three Rivers regional, 2014-06-14,
HH-BOTTLE-2014-0007) — same lookup utility.
Pairs in the library with Fruit Jars (Toulouse, 1969) as the Toulouse glass-attribution reference pair, and with the Texas Glass / Lockhart / Hinson Three Rivers monograph triple.
Notable contents
- Lookup-organized table of mold marks: initials, symbols, plant codes — with firm names, locations, and date ranges.
- Coverage of major American glass houses (Owens-Illinois, Ball Brothers, Anchor Hocking, Hazel-Atlas, Three Rivers, etc.).
- Period photographs and line drawings of marks as found on bottle bases and heels.
- Historical context paragraphs per firm — useful comparandum for the KB’s company-history pages.
Open questions
- Specific Three Rivers Glass Company marks documented in Toulouse — page references needed for the companies/three-rivers-glass-company.md entry.
- Owens-Illinois date-code system — page references; useful for any Crystalvac jar dating work.
- Hoffmann-Hayman-specific entries — unlikely (Toulouse covers glass makers, not their buyers), but worth confirming there’s no entry under common H&H glass-supplier names.
Related
- Fruit Jars (Toulouse, 1969) — companion Toulouse reference (jar typology).
- Texas Glass (Smith, 1989) — Three Rivers Glass Co. monograph.
- Texas Glass — Goodie Box lot (Smith, 1989) — same.
- companies/three-rivers-glass-company.md — the company whose marks the book documents.
- brands/crystalvac.md — the H&H product line attributed via these marks.
- resources/bottle-makers-and-their-marks.md — citation-pointer page.
- library/index.md — full library holdings.