Extinct: The conformity of social identity.

Les Gentilshommes du duc d'Orleans dans 

l'habit de Saint-Cloud by Félix Philippoteaux.

Living: The gentleman's gentleman.

As long as there have been gentlemen 

there have been gentleman's gentlemen.

1890s

1920s

1967

Extinct: The lunch box. Not initially designed

to capture a child's imagination, the recycled

and utilitarian approach gave way in the 1950s.

On view at the Smithsonian Museum.

Strange Occupations, Part I: Cliff egg gatherers.

A Yorkshire livelihood involving a rope, a basket,

and a bowler hat (to protect against falling rock).

From the collection of Will Brown at Old Town.

Samuel Beckett, 1976

William Powell, 2004

Living: Jane Bown, 60 years at the Observer 

newspaper. See the exhibition, buy the book.

Living: The pajama. Native dress discovered

by British colonials in India, the voluminous

night shirt was quickly discarded in its favour.

Living: Leeds Pottery, est 1781. Named after the

village in which the pottery was founded, the Hunslet

range is inspired by the utility crockery once found

in taverns + below stairs. At Ancient Industries.

From Domino magazine, via Apartment Therapy

Julia Child's pegboards at the Smithsonian Institute

Living: Pegboard. A failed science experiment, this

hardboard with holes was created in 1897 as a material

designed to shield lepers from spreading disease.

Later discovered to be useful for hanging pots.

Living: The cuckoo clock. Often associated

with Switzerland, the cuckoo clock emerged from

that other country of brotherly love, Germany.

Mid-nineteenth century.

Living: The donkey jacket. British work wear derived

from the 19th century wool sack coat. Photograph of

coal miners by John Bulmer, thanks to Lark About.

Living: The Uffington White Horse. Created from

chalk during the Bronze Age, it was only obscured once,

during the Blitz. Now owned by the National Trust.

Living: Guy Fawkes, whose effigy is burnt atop

a bonfire to remember the gun powder plot of 1605.

He jumped from the gallows to avoid being hung,

drawn & quartered. And thence broke his neck.

In perpetua: Frederick Austerlitz.

Photograph by Martin Munkacsi.

Extinct: Really tiny windows, for retaining 

cool air in summer and heat in winter.

Living: Cash's woven labels. Identifying school 

uniforms for generations, Cash's began as a ribbon 

manufacturer in 1846. Now the last survivor 

of the Coventry silk weaving industry. 

Calgary, Canada, 1926.

Volendam, Holland, 1929.

Oppheim, Norway, 1910.

Bilbao, Spain, 1917.

Roscoff, Brittany, 1920.

Reims, France, 1917.

Dunkirk, France, 1917.

Ross, Ireland, 1913.

St Ives, Cornwall, England, 1913.

Ancient Industries will be Abroad for a

fortnight. Postcards will be dispatched daily.

All photographs by Albert Kahn.

Extinct in Europe: The VW Camper

(1950-1979), available only in Brazil.

Dad's grey socks available everywhere.

Via beyond, deux, and heather ross.

Living: Swiss Alps and red gingham.

Cooking apron available at Ancient Industries.

Photograph of Ava Nancy by Kendra Wilson.

Living: The Shrimp. 

Ancient Industries poster girl for autumn.

Photograph by Terence Donovan.

Living: Pet graves. A quirk of the Egyptians, 

the practice was revived by the Victorians. 

Photograph by Kendra Wilson.

Remembered: Irving Penn's portable studio,

easily assembled in Paris, London and New York

for photographing the small trades in 1950.

Extinct: Pure elegance. 

Irving Penn 1917-2009.

Living: A mystery jug. Dated 1780 yet

the style is more akin to Osbert Lancaster.

Displayed at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge.

Killed off by dye: The carbro print. Created in 1868,

this carbon/bromide process used pigment, which made

the colour as stable as that of the frescoes of Pompeii.

Photographs by Nickolas Muray/George Eastman House.

Living: The Nerfertiti bust at the

Neues Museum. Made in Egypt c. 1330 BC.

Or, very possibly, Germany, 1912.

Living: 'I Know Where I'm Going was given its

name by Frankie, who was travelling with me on the

Number 9 bus to Piccadilly Circus. I told her Emeric's

story between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park.

"You ought to call it I Know Where I'm Going,"

she said, standing up to get off at Piccadilly.

"Why?"

"Because of the song," and standing there in the

swaying bus she sang it:

I know where I'm going

And I know who goes with me

I know whom I love

But the dear knows whom I'll marry.

We were opposite Fortnum and Mason.

I said, fascinated:

"Is there any more of it?"

She nodded.'

--From A Life in Movies by Michael Powell.