Seccotine is a brand of refined liquid

fish glue Animal glue is an adhesive that is created by prolonged boiling of animal connective tissue in a process called rendering. In addition to being used as an adhesive it is used for coating and sizing, in decorative composition ornaments, and as ...

first made in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Origins

Seccotine originated in Ireland and was first marketed and patented in 1894 by John Stevenson MA (1851-1931). The original manufacturer was the commercial printing company McCaw, Stevenson & Orr Limited of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

(founded 1876). In the early 1960s a new product, Seccotine No.2 PVA general-purpose adhesive, was introduced.

History

The products and their registered trade marks for the UK and other clearly defined countries throughout the world were sold in 1968 to the English-based Royal Sovereign Group of Companies. Etablissements Martin, of Paris, which was already manufacturing in France under licence, acquired the trade marks for use in what were then the EEC countries, and certain other scheduled territories.

Etymology

It is one of the few trade names to have its entry and etymology recorded in the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...

(1933 edition) where the name is explained as "apparently suggested by Italian ''secco'', dry", though it is possible that the French ''sec'' (dry) may also have been an influence.

Popular culture

The recurring character

Seccotine Seccotine is a recurring character from the ''Spirou et Fantasio'' comics, and the first major female character of the series, a strong-willed reporter. She was created by André Franquin, and made her first appearance in ''La turbotraction'' ser ...

of the Franco-Belgian comics series ''

Spirou et Fantasio ''Spirou & Fantasio'' (french: Spirou et Fantasio, wa, Spirou eyet Fantasio) is one of the most popular classic Franco-Belgian comics. The series, which has been running since 1938, shares many characteristics with other European humorous advent ...

'' is named after the glue. British popular ukuleleist

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961) was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he s ...

sang about Frigid Air Fanny whose "teeth are not a grand set - she bought a second hand set - and stuck 'em in with seccotine" (1938).

Billy Bunter William George Bunter is a fictional schoolboy created by Charles Hamilton using the pen name Frank Richards. He features in stories set at Greyfriars School, a fictional English public school in Kent, originally published in the boys' weekly ...

is glued into a chair with seccotine in

The Magnet ''The Magnet'' was a British weekly boys' story paper published by Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1908 to 1940, publishing a total of 1,683 issues. Each issue cost a halfpenny and contained a long school story about the boys of Greyfriars S ...

#100 (1910). In the

R. Austin Freeman Dr. Richard Austin Freeman (11 April 1862 – 28 September 1943) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr. Thorndyke. He invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in wh ...

novel ''

As a Thief in the Night As, AS, A. S., A/S or similar may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * A. S. Byatt (born 1936), English critic, novelist, poet and short story writer * "As" (song), by Stevie Wonder * , a Spanish sports newspaper * , an academic male voice ...

'' (1928) the use of seccotine rather than glue is used as a clue to identify a murderer. In the

C.S. Lewis CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public se ...

novel ''

That Hideous Strength ''That Hideous Strength: A Modern Fairy-Tale for Grown-Ups'' is a 1945 novel by C. S. Lewis, the final book in Lewis's theological science fiction Space Trilogy. The events of this novel follow those of '' Out of the Silent Planet'' and ''Per ...

'' (1945) a character is described as having a cigarette "seccotined" to his lip. In the

E. Nesbit Edith Nesbit (married name Edith Bland; 15 August 1858 – 4 May 1924) was an English writer and poet, who published her books for children as E. Nesbit. She wrote or collaborated on more than 60 such books. She was also a political activist a ...

novel ''

The Story of the Amulet ''The Story of the Amulet'' is a novel for children, written in 1906 by English author Edith Nesbit. It is the final part of a trilogy of novels that also includes ''Five Children and It'' (1902) and '' The Phoenix and the Carpet'' (1904). I ...

'' (1906) a broken saucer would never be the same again even if bits were joined "with Seccotine or the white of an egg." In the

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

novels ''

The Man in the Brown Suit ''The Man in the Brown Suit'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by The Bodley Head on 22 August 1924 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The character Colone ...

'' (1924), a significant roll of film "...has evidently been stuck down with seccotine,..." and would need "the use of a tinopener". and ''

Death on the Nile ''Death on the Nile'' is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 1 November 1937 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company the following year. The UK edition retailed at ...

'' (1937), Poirot whilst searching a cabin.."He picked up a tube of Seccotine, fingered it absently for a minute or two, then said: 'Let us pass on.'"

Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire '' A Clockwork ...

, in his autobiography ''

Little Wilson and Big God ''Little Wilson and Big God'', volume I of Anthony Burgess's autobiography, was first published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 1986. It won the J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography. The work describes a period of over 40 years from Burgess's ...

'' (1987) writes: "This broken Chinese vasewe all helped to mend laboriously with seccotine". In the

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxle ...

novel '' Eyeless in Gaza'' (1936) "This beastly stuff's drying on me. Like seccotine." when showered with dog's blood on a hot sunny day.Aldous Huxley, ''Eyeless in Gaza'' p 114

References

* Adhesives {{Product-stub