TANNEKS SlXCilXU THE "TASNKIw" <,;IEE;!,' APAI'TKH TO THK T- .NK OF TIIK n'i-sni I A1t.i; IIVMV. 



gravings which vividly picture certain aspects of the tanner's hfe in the mid-19th 

 century: the contrast of management and hibor, the increased attention to 

 chemical principles, and the continued influence of the French. 



Pont wrote to her husband introducing this newcomer to the 

 Brandy wine: 



I am sending you this letter ... by M. Chenou .... This gentleman has 

 made a very practical discovery concerning a method of tanning leathers. 

 You will have no difficulty understanding it, since you have worked so long 

 and hard for the tanners and tanneries. M. Chenou would like to find an 

 established tannery and associate himself with it — contributing his process, 

 which has been recognized as excellent in Paris. ^'*'^ 



Chenou had come to the right place. He arrived in Delaware 

 late in 1815, and by December, Alexandre Cardon and J. A. 

 Bidermann had entered into an agreement under the name of 

 A. Cardon and Company, "the object of which was the tanning 

 of leather by a new process." It is not clear what transpired 

 amona; du Pont de Nemours, Cardon, Bidermann, and Chenou, 



145 Wife to du Pont de Nemours, August 25, 1815, Winterthur MSS, l,group 2, box J!?, Eleutherian 

 Mills Historical Library. 



6Sl-4ai— 64- 



55 



