J. Theobald and Company's extra special illustrated catalogue of magic lanterns, slides and apparatus (circa 1900)

f to have them back to lend out, in case we agreed to do so, therefore if we los6 sale through letting them out on hire to somebody else, and they keep them over the day, we charge full price for them every day they are kept, persons should therefore be very par- ticular in stating the exact length of time they fwish slides for. All damage to slides must be paid for by the hirer, we take no risk whatever from the time they leave our place to the time when they are returned. For personij in the country three days are reckoned as one, that is to say, if the slides are warfted for, say on Thursday, we send them away from here on the Wednesday, and they must be returned to us by the first passenger train on Friday morning, otherwise they are charged half-price and quarter price, the same as for London, for any length of time kept after that period. All slides returned from the country must have the full name and address of sender inside, and must be returned carriage paid ; any slides or apparatus sent back unpaid are refused by us, and the hirer has to stand the cost of slides or apparatus all the time they are absent from our place, as if he were hiring them. We particularly ask persons not to leave orders till the very day they want the slides. Many people make it a rule to sencHip on Wednesday for slides that they want to use on Thursday, and supposing the slides happen to be out on hire somewhere else, or have to be coloured, or we are extremely busy, and we have so many orders they cannot be packed the same day, they are very disappointed. Most people know fully a week or so before hand when they want slides, and what slides they want, and it would be no inconvenience whatever to them to give three or four days notice, otherwise we cannot guarantee being able to send the slides to time, or the exact subjects which are required, although of course, we always do our best to oblige in every particular case. Persons who are constantly hiring slides would find it very greatly to their advantage if they were to pay so much yearly, when we make a considerable reduction ; for instance, persons paying us £2 2s. down are allowed to have 650 slides out on hire during the course of the year; reckoning for the same length of time as if they were hired in the ordinary way, that is to say, a person may not keep the slides for more than one night unless they pay extra ; a person having say fifty slides and keeping them two nights, would be charged: the same as if they had 75 slides out of the 650. Persons paying us a subscription of is. are allowed to have 300 slides out during the year. We cannot guarantee to oblige people when they select slides from all over the catalogue; sometimes a person will send up for three dozen slides, and he will pick one out of one set and one out of another, this spoils a large number of sets for lend- ing out to other people, and we expect that a person shall have the complete set where it interferes with a tale or lecture, although views of places and mechanical slides and effects may be picked out here and there as desired. We make special terms for persons requiring slides for a week or a month at a time, and application should be made to know what these terms are, stating exactly as to what period they are wanted for hire. The cost for the hire of Lanterns and slides must always be sent at the time that the order is forwarded, otherwise the goods cannot be sent off. In a case where persons wish to give us references instead of a deposit to the value of the slides, we must have the references three or four days before hand, as we cannot trouble to send off several miles at perhaps a day’s notice, to obtain the necessary particulars. We cannot book slides for people unless they send us deposit; sometimes a person sends and asks “ can I have certain slides on a certain day ?” but they do not pay for them or positively book them ; in such cases if anybody else sends for the same slides and pays the deposit, they have the preference. HIRE OF LANTERNS AND SLIDES AND APPARATUS. £ s. d. Hire of Slides, per dozen ... ... ... ... ... ... ... o i o Oil Lantern and three or four wick lamp, and 3 dozen Slides ... ... 050 Hire of ditto, and 5 dozen Slides ... ... ... ... ... ... 086 Hire of Limelight bi-unial Lantern, with jets, dissolver, &c. complete o 15 o Gas, screen, stand, tubing and limes for use with ditto, sufficient for 2 hours 060 9 foot screen ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 010 ,, ,, if wetted ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 020