This paper offers a case study of two London firms active in the production and distribution of women’s ready-to-wear clothing before 1900, H. J. Nicoll and Alfred Stedall. The sources used are registered advertising images from the Records of the Copyright Office, Stationers’ Company at The National Archives; Companies House records (also at The National Archives); and newspaper advertisements sourced from the British Newspaper Archive. These three archives have allowed me to evaluate the uses made of advertising images, and to relate this to the companies’ development, reflecting on the gaps and omissions between the three sources. This research has uncovered a nationwide chain of women’s ready-to-wear retailers, an unexpected development that may require some rethinking of current historiography. It also throws light on the locations and practices of London-based clothing workshops, which have proven resistant to study.

本文提供了对 1900 年之前活跃于女性成衣生产和分销的两家伦敦公司 HJ Nicoll 和 Alfred Stedall 的案例研究。使用的来源是国家档案馆文具公司版权局记录中的注册广告图像；公司档案（也在国家档案馆）；以及来自英国报纸档案馆的报纸广告。这三个档案使我能够评估广告图像的用途，并将其与公司的发展联系起来，反思三个来源之间的差距和遗漏。这项研究发现了全国范围内的女性成衣零售商连锁店，这是一个意想不到的发展，可能需要重新思考当前的历史记录。。