The Handel Lamps Book

As a young boy, Philip J. Handel was strong, rugged and ambitious. His greatest interest was in decorative drawing and he displayed a promising talent for it. His favorite books were related to decorative art and architectural subjects. He purchased a printer's outfit and worked with it after school hours until he was fourteen years old when, without telling his family, he found a job with The Meriden Britannia Company. He had hoped that he could learn a trade there, but left after one month. For the next six months he served as an unpaid apprentice at The Meriden Flint Glass Company and he remained in their employ until he was nineteen. It was then that he entered into a business association with Adolph Eydam, specializing in glass decorating and lamp manufacturing.

The Handel Company began in 1885 as a partnership between Philip Julius Handel, age nineteen, and Adolph Eydam, age twenty-one. The company, under the name of Eydam & Handel, was located on the corner of Miller and Catlin Streets in Meriden, Connecticut.

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