ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the groups who made, sold and hung what became over the century an increasingly lucrative decorative product. It aims to correct the narrow focus of Sugden and Edmondson on 'famous pioneers', an approach sustained by Entwisle, who consolidated his research in a series of articles covering firms such as Thomas Bromwich, the Blue Paper Warehouse and Eckhardts'. The chapter argues that technical innovations in manufacture are only part of the story, analysing the language of advertisements, trade cards and bills to show how this new material was framed to consumers and how the time and cost involved in its installation was seen to be justified. The diversity of the trade makes mapping suppliers problematic, however, it is possible to infer some conclusions about the spread of paper hangings. Every item of preparation and finish was charged, from the paste, to scraps of brown paper which were used to cover tack heads to prevent them disfiguring the pattern.
