A RARE and remarkable record of East Lancashire's once mighty cotton industry is to go under the hammer for an estimated £150,000.

The historic archive, which dates from 1815, features more than 100 leather-bound books of printed fabric swatches.

Many of the cotton mills and print works represented were based in and around the Rossendale Valley.

Sotheby's will auction the collection, thought to be the most important record of 19th Century British fabric manufacture, on Wednesday, March 4, in London.

Bidding is expected to reach between £100,000 and £150,000.

The books had been assumed lost and their rediscovery in a redundant textile factory has caused excitement among both historians and contemporary designers.

They chart the lucrative overseas trade, detailing orders and cargoes, lists of clients' likes and dislikes as well as the side effects of opium smoking which led to confused orders. Also featured are interesting insights into the Lancashire workers and mill conditions.

A spokesman for Sotheby's said: "The archive is a rare and remarkable record of the excellence of the British textile industry - the quality of the printed fabrics, the diversity and innovation of designs is a testament of the pride and craftsmanship of the workforce that laboured to produce it."

The Calico Printers Association, a professional guild which was set up in 1899 to promote the cotton printing industry, is responsible for assembling the archive.

Many references are made to one of the most important mills in the Rossendale valley and founder member of the guild was Loveclough print works, now known as Cooke and Unsworth.

After surviving a fire before the turn of the century, the books were split up in 1968 when the association faced closure.

A few of the swatch books were donated to museums but the bulk of the collection disappeared. It is this part of the archive that has resurfaced on the open market.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.