Under the description ‘trade catalogue’ the RCB includes five types of document:
You will find more information on this in the articles “Reclame als bron voor de geschiedenis van de technieken” (Advertising as a source for the history of techniques) and "The repertory of belgian trade catalogues". The catalogues of booksellers and publishers are not included, nor those of antiquaries (paintings, manuscripts etc.) and advertisements for services.
For practical reasons the Directory is limited to documents published before 1950, but doubtful cases are also included.
We only include documents which were published in Belgium, or by a Belgian firm abroad.
Addresses are included literally as they appear in the publicity. Only the name of the district or town may, if necessary, have been translated using the language of the part of the country where the document was published.
If no date of publication is stated, but a year can be traced in the document after or before which it was published, then we include that year with a p (post = after) or an a (ante = before). If no indication of a date can be found at all, we place the document into an approximated period, e.g. 1875-1899 or 1900-1924.
The RCB code is made up of two numbers: the first identifies the company, the second the relevant publication. Hence the RCB code provides an unequivocal identification.
If a catalogue (or part of one) has been scanned, you can consult it in the file by clicking download.
The MOT can make these illustrations available digitally in high resolution on request (info@mot.be). You will find more information here on reproduction rights.
