Rugby, Weapons & Cycles - St Etienne
First, this is a wonderful early 1900 rugby illustration (no date...) by E.Letellier... All what I like in collecting rugby...
Second, this is the cover page of the catalogue of one of French leading mail order companies at the time: Manufacture Française d'Armes et Cycles de St.Etienne (French Factory of Weapons & Cycles in St.Etienne), a.k.a. "ManuFrance", founded in 1885 in St.Etienne.
"ManuFrance" went bankrupt in the 80s, but the brand surely remains strong in the memory of French readers... "ManuFrance" is strongly tied, on one hand, to its own monthly magazine "Le Chasseur Français" ("The French Hunter")- a "must read" in rural France (and, say, a real source of fun for urban and modern readers...), and, on the other hand, to the local (Association) Football team A.S.St Etienne which was sponsored by ManuFrance in its golden years... (Champions' League final lost in 1978 to Bayern Munich...)
Back to the 1900s..., "ManuFrance" was then manufacturing all kind of rugby football equipement - mostly leather goods - i.e. balls, shoes - but also rugby kits... here are a few pages, from resp. 1911 and 1924.
(large pictures, top down, here, here and there... and the last one also...)
