Description and research notes
Spectacular illustrated industrial letterhead from Allen, Alderson & Co., Alexandria, dated 18 January 1912. The firm represented British heavy engineering manufacturers such as Ruston, Proctor & Co., supplying steam engines, boilers, pumps, and mills to Egypt’s modernising industrial and agricultural sectors.
Five finely engraved vignettes show a drop-valve engine, tandem compound engine, Lancashire boiler, centrifugal pump, and grinding mill. The execution reflects the late Victorian/Edwardian engraving tradition used in British engineering catalogues. The bilingual English–Arabic masthead declares the firm’s role as agents, importers, and engineers serving the Delta and Upper Egypt.
The content concerns machinery pricing and shipment details, fully handwritten and signed. Illustrated machinery letterheads of this calibre are extremely rare in Egypt; this example documents the inflow of British industrial technology at a pivotal moment before World War I and stands as a museum-level artifact of Egypt’s early mechanisation.