Right Hon. W.E. GLADSTONE, M.P.

Woven on Silk:-
 

Printed at top of card:-
TRIED, TRUSTED, TRUE

Printed at bottom of card:-
Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone, M.P.

Card-mount:
cm deep by cm wide

silk:
cm high by cm wide

by Geoffrey Godden:
This early Grant silk, which was first issued in 1885, bears the Grant name and address printed on the card-mount, below the portrait. Some examples have an outline of Gladstone's career printed on the back-label; others have the normal label listing the available silks.

The portraits of Gladstone are of two main types with slight variations - mainly in the colouring of the flowers below the silk (which are completely missing on some early examples) - and may be found in two sizes.

The standard version (§1036) is shown on go200.

The earlier black-and-white version (§1036a) is of small size, some 3¼ inches high, and the printed title on the card-mount reads 'Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Esq., M.P.' [see go212 on this site].
With some examples of this rare small-size silk, Mr Gladstone is shown facing half right (§1036b) {see go216}, not the usual half left.

 

Other comments:
The Jubilee Album is shown on this site as go36, and the portrait above of Gladstone is contained within that album.

Grant produced a number of different versions of the Gladstone silk, although all the coloured versions are mounted in the same size card matt.
The version of Gladstone included in the Jubilee Album, whilst an identical silk to the normal version, is however mounted in a small size matt. This version [the image above] is smaller as the usual printed Grant credit below the silk has been omitted, thus enabling the card to fit into the overall Jubilee Album format.