THE world has a problem with pollution from single-use plastic containers and could learn a lot from Victorians who preferred reusable glass and stoneware bottles, jars and flagons.

Brewers such as James Thompson of Barrow could supply bulk liquids to businesses in the expectation that the container would be returned, ready to be washed and filled again.

An example of a 15in tall jar for James Thompson - and another for Thomas Hodgson, at the Crooklands Inn, Crooklands, near Kendal – are included in the October 8 sale by BBR Auctions at Elsecar in South Yorkshire.

The pair of stoneware vessels have a pre-sale estimate of £20 to £30.

The James Thompson example is marked “vinegar” and could have been supplied to a fish and chip shop or for use in pickling anything from onions and cabbage to eggs.

A pair of rare first edition books by Lakeland author and illustrator Beatrix Potter will feature in the September 27 sale by Forum Auctions of London.

There is a pre-sale estimate of £3,000 to £4,000 on an author’s presentation copy of The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse.

There is also a copy of The Tale of Mr Todd, with a dedication dated 1912, which should sell for £2,000 to £3,000.

The same sale expects £250 to £350 for a group of books including a 1774 first edition of The Antiquities of Furness by Thomas West.

Also on offer is a collection of 65 prints including four panoramic views of the Lake District by William Westall, who lived from 1781 to 1850, which should make £200 to £300.

An officer’s helmet for the 1st Cumberland Artillery Volunteers, from the period 1878 to 1901, should make £500 to £600 in a sale at London by Dix Noonan Webb on September 27 to 28.

A cap badge for the St Bees School Officer Training Corps is included in the September 23 to 24 sale by Lockdales of Ipswich in Suffolk and is expected to sell for £30 to £32.

A watercolour called Coniston from Waterhead Hotel by Edward H. Thompson, who lived from 1879 to 1949, sold for £240 in a sale by Sworders of Stansted Mountfitchet.

And a painting dated 1864 called Lake Windermere, Westmorland, made £150 in a sale by Peter Wilson at Nantwich, Cheshire.

It was the work of Charles F. Buckley, who lived from 1812 to 1869.