Stevengraph - "Peeping Tom"
Old receipt number 590. Silk picture of "Peeping Tom"
"Stevengraph" as a title was invented by Thomas Stevens and first appears on the backing paper for his bookmarks in 1876.
He called his factory "The Stevengraph Works", and later referred to his woven silk pictures in the same way when they first appeared in 1879.
It is evident Stevens intended this title to include all his bookmarks, pictures, portraits and silk postcards too.In the late 1800's, the silk ribbon weavers of Coventry, England, were experiencing very difficult trading conditions due to changing fashions and cheap imports from abroad. Several weavers had already diversified into related activities, and Thomas Stevens was one of these, with his Stevengraphs.
In more modern times, the Stevengraph title (sometimes referred to as Stevensgraph) started to be applied to all woven silk items produced by other Victorian silk weavers such as Grant, Welch & Lenton, Bollans, and J & J Cash etc., and by 20th Century weavers such as Brocklehurst-Whiston (BWA).
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"Ye Peeping Tom of Coventre"
Stevengraphs are pictures woven from silk, originally created by Thomas Stevens in the 19th century.
