Drysalters were dealers in a range of chemical products, including glue, varnish, dye and colourings. They might supply salt or chemicals for preserving food and sometimes also sold pickles, dried meat or related items. The name ''drysalter'' or ''dry-salter'' was in use in the
United Kingdom by the early 18th century when some drysalters concentrated on ingredients for producing dyes, and it was still current in the first part of the 20th century.
Drysaltery is closely linked to the occupation of salter which in the
Middle Ages simply meant someone who traded in salt. By the end of the 14th century there was a
guild of salters in
London. Later ''salter'' was also used to refer to people employed in a salt works, or in salting fish or meat, as well as to drysalters.
In 1726,
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...
described a tradesman involved in the "buying of
cochineal,
indigo,
gall
Galls (from the Latin , 'oak-apple') or ''cecidia'' (from the Greek , anything gushing out) are a kind of swelling growth on the external tissues of plants, fungi, or animals. Plant galls are abnormal outgrowths of plant tissues, similar to be ...
s,
shumach,
logwood
''Haematoxylum campechianum'' (blackwood, bloodwood tree, bluewood, campeachy tree, campeachy wood, campeche logwood, campeche wood, Jamaica wood, logwood or logwood tree) is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is na ...
,
fustic
Fustic is a common name for several plants and a dye produced from these plants:
* A dye made from ''Maclura tinctoria
''Maclura tinctoria'', known as old fustic and dyer's mulberry, is a medium to large tree of the Neotropics, from Mexico to ...
k,
madder
''Rubia'' is the type genus of the Rubiaceae family of flowering plants, which also contains coffee. It contains around 80 species of perennial scrambling or climbing herbs and subshrubs native to the Old World. The genus and its best-known spe ...
, and the like" as both dry-salter and salter. The Salters'
Livery Company tells us that "some of the members who were salt traders were also 'Drysalters' and dealt in
flax
Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...
,
hemp
Hemp, or industrial hemp, is a botanical class of ''Cannabis sativa'' cultivars grown specifically for industrial or medicinal use. It can be used to make a wide range of products. Along with bamboo, hemp is among the fastest growing plants o ...
, logwood, cochineal,
potashes and chemical preparations."
Being a drysalter might be combined with manufacturing – paint, for example – or with trading as a chemist/druggist or ironmonger/hardware merchant.
[''Scotsman'']
In contrast, a wet-salter could refer to a fish
curer or to someone
tanning leather by wet salting hides.
References
Further reading
Daniel Defoe, ''The Complete English Tradesman'', Chapter IV (London 1726)
External links
Drysalter's Shop in the 1930s
* Jill the Reckless, P. G. Wodehouse, "Jill The Reckless", Chapter VIII (II): 'The Dry-Salters Winged Derek'
* Michael Symmons Roberts; (2013); Drysalter; Jonathan Cape; (winner of the 2013 Costa Poetry Award).
Obsolete occupations
Sales occupations
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