Printed handbill by Thomas Gibbons & Co, Bishopsgate St, headed '(Important) Accommodation', offering 'good Mercantile Bills of Exchange' for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with manuscript letter to James Baldwin, Birmingham copperplate printer

2pp., 4to. Printed in small type, with manuscript additions on both sides of the first leaf; addressed on the recto of the second leaf, with broken red wax seal: 'P. P. 9d | Mr Baldwin | Copper plate printer & | Birmingham | Sheffield | Oct 8th.' Great St Helens was a centre for firms concerned with bankruptcy and liquidation, and this interesting document offers banking services for 'needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen', with a use of Masonic imagery which is designed to reassure. The head of the letter is decorated with a vignette depicting an all-seeing eye overlooking a globe on which blind Justice is perched, with the motto: 'NUNQUAM DORMIO'; beneath this is the heading '(Important) Accommodation' in gothic letters, flanked by compasses and a sun-face. The printed document begins: 'Merchants, Manufacturers, Farmers, Graziers, Tradesmen, and Persons of respectability, in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or in any Foreign Part, may have good London Accepted Bills of Exchange, procured for them, regularly Drawn, Accepted, and Endorsed, and if necessary specially Endorsed to them, at any dates, and in any Amounts their Circumstances may require, or they may be allowed to Draw themselves on respectable and responsible Houses in the City of London, [...]'. At the end of this section the 'Charges' are given in manuscript, followed by a note stating that the firm are 'Purchasers of any kind of Property (for Ready Money) adapted for Sale in London, if the Prices suit us, [...]'. At the foot of the page is printed a circular letter in type, signed in manuscript 'Thos. Gibbons & Co', with the date and address also added in manuscript. This states: 'The nature of our Business is such, as to enable us to know many needy Manufacturers and Tradesmen, who are obliged to sell at times for Ready Money at a low Rate, therefore can procure you Goods from 20 to 30 per cent. cheaper than you can purchase them in the regular way. We can also find a Person that will at any time make large Advances in Cash, upon any description of Saleable Property, lodged as a Collateral Security, in any Public Warehouse or Packers in London, [...]'. Four-line manuscript addition at foot of page. The second page begins with a printed list of 'a lot of Goods we have had put into our hands, for sale by commission', with prices in manuscript, including all manner of items, from '3500 black or white called Royal Brunswick Beaver, they are of the most fashionable shape, and for durability, equal to any Hat ever made, will never change their color or wear white at the edges', to '12 new and elegant made London [S]tanhope Chaises', and also including cheese, wine and jewellery. At the foot of the page is an eight-line letter to 'Mr. Baldwin', beginning 'If we have not been wrongly informed you have had the misfortune to dishonour some Bill or Bills which we hope is owing to some temporary disappointment', and ending 'you may depend upon our Honor Secrecy & punctuality'.