Il6 THE DERBY COMPANY OF MERCERS. 



written by my father, there is no mention of this Mercers' 

 Company. The object of this paper is to place on record the 

 grant, by-laws, etc., of the Company, and to give a slight sketch 

 of the work done by it, such as can be gathered from the few 

 documents, etc., extant. 

 They consist of — 



(a) The original grant from the Corporation. 



(d) The minute-book or records. 



((f) An agreement between the Company and John Booth. 



(d) Several certificates of membership, or rather of brethren- 



ship. And 



(e) A roll of the officers in 1720. 



The minute book consisted of 372 pages, numbered by hand, 

 a title page, and two blank pages at the beginning, and one at the 

 end; altogether 376 pages. The size of the book is i8| by 7 

 inches. It is full bound in parchment, and fastened with two 

 pairs of coarse tape ties. On each page is a margin of 2^ inches 

 made by a red line ruled from top to bottom. On each sheet 

 i8| by 14 inches (two pages) are two watermarks, one a bird with 

 fruit placed in a circle of two inches in diameter, with a simple 

 internal border ; and the other a simple design, probably a mono- 

 gram, on another part of the sheet. 



Although on the title page it is stated that there are 272 pages 

 in the book, there have been just one hundred more. The mis. 

 take has been made at page 311, which has been wrongly 

 numbered 211, and the error is continue 1 throughout the book. 



The first thirteen pages contain a copy of the grant, of the 

 warden's bond, of the members' bond, of the two obligations and 

 subscriptions of members. Pages 14 to 49 are blank. The 

 minutes occupy pages 50 to 133, with the exception of pp. 118 to 

 121, which are missing, and which were torn out with pages 134 

 to 137. The alphabetical list of apprentices occupies pages 321 

 to 352, and the rest are blank. Pages 236 to 278 have been cut 

 out with a sharp instrument, and those from 279 to 234 have 

 been used for pressing leaves, and, as a result, parts of them have 

 become rotten. 



