Lefax - 1992 Update Leaflet

Thank you to Gmax for providing the scans of this leaflet that answered the question about Lefax Pocket Organisers.

You will find our full catalogue collection here.

The content of all these catalogue posts are the intellectual property of Filofax Group Ltd. They are reproduced on Philofaxy with their full permission for research and educational purposes only.

If you have any old Filofax catalogues that you would like to donate to our digital archive, please contact Steve: philofaxy at gmail dot com Thank you

As usual I had to investigate that address! It is now used by VDC Trading a company that sells audio equipment, it seems there is a bit of a trend here because the office/warehouse that Filofax vacated in Burgess Hill is also now an audio equipment company. 

Filofax Leaflet - 2001

A big thank you to one of our readers Maria for sending me these scans. The leaflet came with a Filofax Kensington she bought recently that looks like it was 'New Old Stock' a great find in red from 2001. 

Technology has changed a lot in the last 20+ years, but our Filofax organisers have not changed that much!

Side 2

How it was originally laid out.

I confirmed the year of publication by comparing the images used in the leaflet to those used in the full catalogue for 2001. 

You can find higher resolution scans of these pages here.

The scans are reproduced here for educational and research purposes only

Filofax Global Catalogue 2007

Today we strap ourselves in to the DMC12, charge the flux capacitor and reset the time machine to 2007, it shouldn't take us long to get there once we hit 88 miles per hour! 

With thanks to Jens in Japan we have this 2007/2008 Filofax catalogue and the local price list for Japan. 

As this is an image heavy post (80 images) I have put break points at intervals in the post. 

Jump break to see more click the link. 

Filofax 75th Anniversary 'Grace Scurr' Limited Edition

Twenty Five years ago this year in 1996, Filofax celebrated their 75th anniversary. 

To celebrate this occasion, they produced a limited edition 'Grace Scurr' organiser and presentation case. 1921 examples were apparently made, 1921 being the the first year that Filofax organisers were sold although they were not called Filofax until a few years later than that. 

This limited edition as you will see is rather special. It features a Filofax duplex organiser and special inserts all contained in a wooden velvet lined presentation box. 

I'm very grateful to one of our readers Shani, who spotted this one for sale on ETSY and she emailed me a link to it. The seller was located in The Netherlands, so I very quickly hit the 'order' button and then thought 'What have I just done!!' 

The seller was very good answering all my questions and she packed it in multiple layers of bubble wrap and padding, so it arrived at my door in perfect condition.  We will not need to buy any bubble wrap for some time!

I became aware of this limited edition several years ago through Janet's post on her blog, when she got her one. I also saw one at Filofax in Burgess Hill at our meet up there in September 2013, although I didn't get much time to study it in detail. 

I have always wanted a duplex Filofax, but I've been put off by the crazy prices on Ebay and other similar sites. To get one and for it to be the limited edition Grace Scurr 75th anniversary edition is just even more special. 

According to Janet's post the limited editions where original sold for £500 each in 1996 the equivalent of about £960 in today's money if you allow for inflation. 

One mystery that I'm yet to solve is how these were sold. As mentioned in a previous post, Filofax didn't really have a presence on the internet until 2000, in 1996 Filofax.com was linked to a retailers site in New York. The 75th Limited Edition doesn't appear in the catalogues around about that time that we have had access to. 

That is enough about the background to this limited edition, let me reveal what it looks like etc. 

The presentation case with a veneered exterior with two brass engraved plaques affixed to the lid. 

The main plaque features the '75' logo for 75 years with the years 1921-1996 underneath.

Unlocking the case and opening it, this is my first sight of the interior. The limited edition certificate is affixed to the velvet lining in the lid. Ribbons where holding the organiser in place. 

This is the letter you can see under the ribbon with instructions to the 'retailer' Seeing this makes me consider that this example was never originally sold and possibly sat in a stock room or similar until earlier this year. 

A close up of the certificate in the lid of the case. Mine is number 205 of 1921.

Carefully removing the blue tissue paper, this is the duplex Filofax, with its gold finish rings and fly leaf. Each inside cover has a single full height vertical slip pocket. 

The front inside cover has the '75' logo and the years in addition to the fILOFAX and the number of the item out of the 1921 total

Whilst the back inside cover includes 'Hand Crafted in England' 

Difficult to photograph, but the rings also include the '75' logo and the years 1921-1996 in the top cover of the ring mechanisms. 

Underneath organiser stored in base of the case in three compartments set in to the velvet lining are three sets of inserts. 

• A diary insert that covered 18 months from June 1996 to December 1997, 
• A set of Notes inserts, 
• A set of Address inserts.  

These are all wrapped and in my case they were unopened.  Each set can be lifted out by a ribbon tab that runs underneath the inserts.

The June 1996 to December 1997 week on two page diary insert with a monthly calendar in the footer together with the '75' logo in the corner.

There are Notes pages again with the '75' logo at the foot of the page. 

There is a full set of A-Z index dividers to go with the Address pages each with the '75' logo

Within the organiser were the following inserts explaining the background to this special addition. 

A brief history of the company and how it started back in the 1920's

How Grace Scurr saved the company during World War II when the company offices in London where bombed and everything was destroyed. 

A note on the care of this special organiser. 

A re-print of the 1920 London Underground map. 

This duplex easily passes the 'flatability' test, it has after all been laying flat for 25 years! However to close it you need to hold it closed! I'm sure if it was used it would close eventually. There are no poppers to hold it closed. 

I'm still researching the background to this special limited edition, but there are still a few unanswered questions. 

For instance who made them for Filofax. The Filofax factory in Forest Road, Ilford on the outskirts of London had it's work force cut back in 1993. Is it possible that they made them in the running down of production ahead of the anniversary in 1996? Making 1921 examples would have taken several weeks. 

I suspect the wooden cases where made by a subcontractor, but these were also made to a high standard as you can see from the way they have been jointed and finished. 

As I indicated at the start of the post, I haven't discovered how they advertised these limited editions. As I discovered in an earlier post. Filofax didn't have a full website until 2000. 

We have catalogues that cover the period around about 1996 and it isn't mentioned in those. I can only guess that they printed a 'special catalogue' to show these off. If they did and you have a copy of it I would very much appreciate seeing some photographs of it. 

Other anniversary editions have included the 85th Anniversary in 2006 which saw the release of a Filofax Eton with '85th Anniversary' on the cover. 

This year is the 100th year which we have seen a Centenary Collection. We have also seen how Filofax Japan celebrated with the release of their own special editions. 

Should Filofax have commissioned something a bit special to celebrate the 100 years like they did in 1996? I will let you decide the answer to that question. 

This limited edition Grace Scurr will be joining other favourites in my collection. I just have to work on my wife Alison to let me have a display case somewhere in the house!!

Who else has a Grace Scurr 75 year anniversary edition? Where are the other 1920 examples now? 

Filofax on the Internet?

I was curious about an element of the history of Filofax and their website the other day. 

"When did Filofax have their first website?"

Should be a simple question to answer? Well sort of, looking at the catalogues we have in the archive, the first mention I see of a web address is in the 1999/2000 catalogues. 1999 in the case of a USA sales brochure and the full catalogue for UK in 2000

Remember in UK people would have still been on dial-up modems (56k) at best in 2000, ADSL broadband didn't start to get rolled out until 2002-2003. Any website would have had to been fairly streamlined to have worked back then compared to what we see today. 

The first web address I found was http://www.filofax.com. Putting that in to the 'Web Archive' found captures going back to December 1996. But when you look at the page it displays 'The Daily Planner' with a Broadway, New York address with [email protected] And the fILOFAX logo on the page.  

Later captures do display some of the elements I remember from the early 2000's such as the phone number for ordering! Also 'For best results use: Internet Explorer 4.0 or Netscape Navigator 4.0!' I doubt if the download links work these days!

Another address in the USA used from 2000/2001 is www.filofax-usa.com or www.filofaxusa.com the earliest captures I could find that displayed anything close to what we would recognise as a 'web page' was the in January 2001. 

Sadly the Web Archive only captures the text and not all of the images. 

The web site was just a virtual catalogue in the early days, there was no on-line ordering back then. You could order by phone and sadly missed these days, they included a list of stockists, that you could filter by county. 

It was an interesting look back at the early pages of the internet world wide web. I created some web pages in 1994 for our internal network at work, all very unofficial at first! I created a website for Alison's business in about 1995 but the earliest capture I could find was 1998! Most of it still works too! Website coding was a very simple affair and by hand back then!

It was also the start of the Pembury Village News website.... which is still going today at https://pembury.org!! But that's getting a bit off topic....

What do you miss on the current Filofax website that was included in the past? 

Paul Smith and Filofax

You might not have heard about Paul Smith. To give him his correct title Sir Paul Smith is a British fashion designer who founded his company in 1970. 

His clothes are known for being vibrant and very colourful. He has shops in many large cities around the world. 

In 1979/1980, a friend of his by the name Michael Hodgson, who at the time was the art director for Harpers and Queen, showed him a leather notebook (Filofax), something Paul had never seen before. He liked it and was quite taken by the design with the inserts for a dairy, year planner, addresses etc. Paul asked Michael where he had bought it from. 

Michael recalled that he had bought it from Chisholm's a stationery store on Kingsway near the junction of Great Queen Street  in the Covent Garden district of London [Check out one of their old catalogues here] 

Paul's wife Pauline bought him a Filofax, because she had noticed how he had admired the design. He later went along to Chisholms himself to find out more about the range of inserts available. At the time there were a lot of inserts available for the clergy and the military as well as a wide variety of other subjects. 

Paul wondered if he could get some organisers and inserts to sell in his own shop in Floral Street in Covent Garden, London. He was given a phone number for Norman and Hill. He was eventually able to contact them and asked if he could go to see them with view to selling their products in his shop. 

At the time Norman and Hill were based in a small dimly office under a railway bridge in Bethnal Green in east London. He recalls that there was a lot of pigeon hole storage shelves on the wall with dozens and dozens of different inserts in them. 

He got them to put together a selection of inserts, but the organisers at the time were only available in black and brown. However, they still sold very well to Paul Smith customers in a variety of professions. 

Paul Smith made a request to Norman and Hill to make the organisers available in a number of other colours (green, red and blue leather) they agreed to do this and they sold very quickly. 

Over a six to seven year period he sold approximately 17,000 organisers. Customers would come from the USA and buy 40 or 50 at a time and then sell them in their own shops. The Filofax was starting to get well known. 

Paul Smith even had some exclusive models made for his own brand as well at about this time. These are very colourful models too. Janet has a Paul Smith 'Swirl' agenda. 

Moments in History

The 'Grace Scurr' Limited edition 75th anniversary organiser 1921 examples made.

This year is when Filofax celebrates 100 years of the brand. It is a land-mark for any company. How did they get there? 

In terms of 'ring bound organisers' you have to go back even further in time. 

• 1910 - Lefax company founded by John Clinton Parker in Philadelphia and produced a range of personal organisers.
  The name Lefax is made up from the words Leaf and Facts. Lefax at one time produced over 2500 data-sheets of single sheets printed with information for scientists, architects and engineers across the full range of industry. 
• 1914-1918 - British Army Officer Colonel Disney working in the US came across a Lefax organiser and bought the idea over to UK with the aim of getting it marketed by a contact in London.
• 1926 - The Lefax trademark was registered 5 October 1926. Its use in the engineering industries was so pervasive that some journals were published in Lefax format.

We then enter the period of Filofax organisers although at first they were not known by that name. 

• 6 June 1921 The Norman & Hill company of printers and stationers is incorporated by the Rounce brothers in Appold Street in the City of London at the premises of W&T Rounce.
• 1921 - Norman and Hill import personal filing systems from Lefax at the suggestion of Grace Scurr, the temporary secretary. Several years later they would make the personal size files under the brand name Filofax, a name suggested by Grace Scurr.
• 1930 - The Filofax trademark was registered.
• December 1940 - The company offices in Aldersgate Street in London were bombed. Fortunately Grace had all the details of their customers and suppliers in her own Filofax that she took home every night. [Off site backups during times of war are extremely important!]
• 1941 - Norman and Hill move to temporary offices in Queens Road, Watford.
• 1941 - Grace Scurr becomes manager of the company, and eventually the chairman.
• 1955 - Grace Scurr resigns as company chairman.
• 1955-1990 - Joe Rider company chairman of Norman and Hill.
• 1980's - Lefax bough by London Wood Partners a British firm.
• 1980 - David and Lesley Collischon buy Norman and Hill and rename it Filofax.
• December 1986 - Norman and Hill officially becomes Filofax Ltd.
• 1990 - Filofax acquired by Transwood Earl.
• October 1990 - Robin Field becomes Chief Executive of Filofax Ltd.
• October 1992 - Lefax bought by Filofax. The original intention was that Lefax would be Filofax's top of the line range, but the Lefax brand was eventually phased out.
• October 1998 - Day Runner acquired Filofax.
• 1998 - Gordon Presly was appointed Chief Executive of Filofax Ltd.
• July 2001 - Filofax acquired by Letts, forming Letts Filofax Group.
• February 2006 - Letts Filofax acquired by Phoenix Equity Partners
• April 2013 - Letts Filofax acquired by Chief Executive Gordon Presley and partner Harolde Savoy (HSGP investments) Letts Filofax now trading as Letts Filofax Blueline (LFB Group).
• June 2014 - Charles Letts dies aged 49 – He had been the overseas sales manager for the Letts Filofax Group and was the last Letts in a long family history of the diary company dating back to 1796.
• 2015 - Gordon Presly retires from Letts Filofax Blueline (LFB Group).
• 2021 - Filofax celebrates 100 years. 

 I've enjoyed piecing together the history of the company using a variety of sources. They include:

• A Chronology of Filofax - Kevin Hall, April 2010 - A detailed history of the company.
• Norman and Hill - Grace's Guide to British Industrial History.
• The Filofax Story - Wiki-Info.de [German site]

What is your earliest recollection of Filofax? 

Lifespan of Different Filofax sizes

I have recently been doing some research on the back catalogue of Filofax organisers and the different periods when different sizes came in to being. 

It wasn't an easy task because there is always some variance of dates of coming to market in different markets. 

Traditionally UK was first to market with up to a year or so delay for other markets. These days most models seem to come to all markets at the same time or at least the same time.

When I plotted out the start and finish of the different sizes it looks like this:

The arrows indicate that this size continues (at the time of writing) 

There is a small window in the early 2000's when the following models were all available:

M2, Mini, Pocket, Personal, A5, Deskfax, A4 

However, I haven't discovered one model that was available in all of those sizes at the same time. If you take out the M2 or A4 or both, then there are quite a few models that have been sold in Mini, Pocket, Personal, A5 or other variations. 

The Cross/Classic was made in M2, Mini, Pocket, Personal, A5 and A4 but not as far as I know in  Deskfax size.

 

 

Filofax in Magazine Advertisments.

Janet Carr has collected together a vast list of films and TV shows where a Filofax or similar ring bound planner appears as a prop. The list continues to grow. 

One of our readers sent me a photo this week of a advert for Austin Reed in the Royal Wedding issue (24th July 1986) of Country Life magazine. 

I suspect that is is a Filofax Winchester in the models hand, just by looking at the catalogue for 1984 or the price list for 1985/86

It was the marriage of Prince Andrew to Sarah Ferguson. That week I was at Bath University on an Open University Summer School (T101 Living with Technology)

Thank you Christopher for sending in the image. 

Filofax Australia Price List 1996

I had to do some basic detective work to estimate the date of this price list. There is a Queens Award for Export achievement 1995 on the front cover. 

Studying the back of the catalogue I noticed a change in the format of the phone number for the Australian distributor. Phone numbers in Australia changed with the addition of a 9 to the number in that region in 1996. I think it is safe to assume that this catalogue was published for 1996.  

I would suggest that it is not any later than that. Looking at the internal layout of the catalogue it has more in common with UK catalogues from 1994/1995 than ones in the late 1990's. 

And you can find higher resolution version of these scans here. 

The full UK catalogue for 1996 is also available here.

The pictorial content of this post is the intellectual property of Filofax Group Ltd. The scans are reproduced here with the full permission of Filofax Group Ltd. for educational and non-commercial usage.