Lalance & Grosjean

This 1885 trade catalog includes illustrations, descriptions, and prices for hundreds of metal tablewares, kitchen utensils, and plumbing fixtures produced by the New York firm of Lalance & Grosjean Manufacturing Co. The company, started by French immigrants Charles Lalance and Florian Grosjean in Woodhaven, New York in the 1860s, was one of earliest American companies to mass produce enamel covered iron cookware and was well known for innovations in the process of tin stamping. The firm, which employed more than 2,000 workers in factories in New York, Harrisburg, Boston, and Chicago at the turn of the century, closed in 1955.  Featured are a variety of designs for items ranging from teaspoons to galvanized toilet stands, all divided into series with such names as “Britannia Ware,” “Blue and White Enameled Ware,” “Hotel Ware,” “Galvanized Iron Ware,” and “Japanned Ware.” The catalog chronicles everyday durable utensils and tableware that could be found in domestic and commercial kitchens throughout the country.