Manuscript Book of Foreign Agency Commissions and Allowances 1950 to 1962

A book measuring roughly 18.5 by 27cm, containing approximately 118 pages of light blue lined paper in tabbed alphabetical sections, plus some tipped-in inserts, 14 loosely inserted copy letters, and a 1937 16-page staple-bound pamphlet in buff-coloured wraps from The Institute of London Underwriters, accompanied by a covering letter from Secretary Hugh E. Gordon, regarding Continental Brokerages and Discounts. Bound in quarter maroon coloured leather over marbled paper covered boards, with a manuscript paper title label to the front board, it was made by Thomas & Sons Ltd., London. The book is reasonably firmly bound, the leather is worn, chipped and splitting, the paper is rubbed, chipped and marked with more significant paper loss to the rear cover, and the corners are bumped. The text block is toned and marked, with cracking at points and curling and rubbing to the tabs. From the archives of the RSA Insurance Group with their barcode strip to the front pastedown. Containing the names of Agencies for Alliance Assurance Co. Ltd. worldwide, background information (e.g. date of first appointment) and the terms under which they operate, arranged alphabetically either by city or country name. Mostly the former, e.g. New York, which has a page and a half regarding their Agent Chubb & Son, as opposed to Cyprus and Jamaica which have fairly short entries. The entries are written in several neat legible hands, in black ink, the later additions and alterations often made in red ink, with occasional pencil jottings. Due to the nature of the tabbed sections perhaps a third of the book is blank, and it appears to have been in active use from 1950 to 1962. A fascinating insight into post-war trading conditions abroad for one of Britain's major independent insurers, spanning the majority of the volatile and increasingly tightly-regulated period from the end of WW2 until their merger with Sun Insurance in 1959, and intriguingly with a few updates in the post-merger years, indicating the gradual nature of the transition into the larger entity of the Sun Alliance Insurance Limited. It indicates the continually & rapidly changing nature of the relationship between the parent company and many of their agencies in nations less friendly to Britain abroad, as the British colonial period drew to its end and the Empire declined and fragmented. The dates of first appointment indicate increasingly precious islands of stability and reliable partnership in some areas, most notably those with the firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. Ltd. in Hong Kong and Shanghai, which were established in 1861 & 1881 respectively.…