Filofax 1955 Catalogue

A massive thank you to GMax for scanning in this historical catalogue from Filofax (Norman and Hill) from 1955. I wasn't even born! 

You will find higher resolution versions of these scanned pages here. 

The pictorial content of this post is the intellectual property of Filofax Group Ltd. The scans are reproduced here with the full permission of Filofax Group Ltd. for educational and non-commercial usage.

Don't forget to check out our full catalogue archive, it has taken many hours/days of work to put it together!

If you have any old Filofax catalogues that you would like to donate to our digital archive, please contact Steve: philofaxy at gmail dot com Thank you

Guest Post – My cheapest organiser purchase - by Gmax

Thank you to Max for this guest post. 

I’d promised to write about this, which I’d mentioned in response to a Tell Us About post last year. The topic was a cheap organiser purchase that didn’t disappoint…

For me has to be this 2019 eBay lot of six simple binders, which cost £8 including postage.

  

Three were Norman & Hill models from the late 70s, two were Filofax ones from the early 80s, and the last was unbranded, probably from the same era.

#1 Norman & Hill E202 7/8”

Model E202 was a stiff, canvas covered binder with no pockets. This one is a light grey colour. It’s obviously seen some use. I keep sheets to record credit card purchases (Form 609) in it.

#2 & 3 Norman & Hill 715 7/8”

715 was a vinyl binder with two pockets. It’s not listed in the January 1979 catalogue, but I believe it came out later that year. Both of these examples are brown.

#4 Filofax 2V 7/8” Textured

I reckon this brown 2V binder dates from 1980/81 – it follows the lines of the previous Norman & Hill 715 model designation, with the same textured vinyl.

#5 Filofax 2V 7/8” Smooth

Quite soon after Filofax’s change of ownership in 1980 the 2V model must have changed to use a smooth finish of vinyl. This style then persisted until the ribbed VR models came out in the middle of the decade.

#6 Unbranded

The last of the set is black and has slightly smaller rings. The way these are attached to the cover looks different, as do the pockets. I don’t think this can have been made by Filofax.

Filofax don’t really offer binders like these today, which is a shame. They are handy for storing new and used leaves, both of which I have quite a lot of!

True Vintage - Norman and Hill Leather Organiser

This last weekend I got to see my brother in law. He has loaned me his 'vintage' Norman and Hill leather slim organiser.

He's not the original owner, he inherited it from a previous engineer at his workplace back in about 1994.

Tony (B.i.L.) has been using it as an address book! And as you can see from the photos it's not in perfect condition, but it has not had an easy life! He has a few old inserts, just lined paper.

The organiser could do with a little TLC as some of the stitching has come undone and may be give it a light clean and a little leather conditioning. But it is in lovely condition for its age. I will not do anything to it until I have had a chance to talk with him.

The rings are the modern linked type, not the very old independent type I've written about before. They are approximately half an inch in internal diameter.

It has a very practical set of pockets on the inside front and rear inside covers. The small pockets, top and bottom of the front inside cover would have been used for postage stamps or railway tickets.

The presence of this emblem might help us give an accurate date to this organiser. 'N&H Ltd London' is of course Norman and Hill Ltd London. 

Norman and Hill is the original company that started to import organisers from Lefax in the USA in the early 1920's, they later renamed their products Filofax from 'File of Facts' 

The original 'cover page' which also shows the Norman Hill address in Newgate Street.

In discussion with 'GMax' we seem to believe that this model is as shown in the 1937 catalogue page 2 as shown below.

We think it is a model A.299 Lefax “pocket book” this matches the pocket layout. Additionally given the address details shown on the cover page, which is an address we know that Norman and Hill occupied before World War 2.

This design was continued through until about 1980/1981 when it became the Filofax 6CL (Gloucester) it also changed from Morocco leather to Calf leather.

This is one of the oldest examples of the Norman and Hill Ltd products that we have seen to date.

Thank you to GMax for his help and knowledge in dating or narrowing down the period we are confident that this organiser is from. Of course thanks also to by brother in law Tony for the loan of this organiser.