Little is known about E. C. Lavars. He was the son of John Lavars, who ran a lithography firm in Bristol. E. C. Lavars produced drawings of Bristol subjects, after which lithographs were published by the firm from the 1860s to 1880s. Lavars and Co. of Broad Street was founded by John in 1838. Lavars and Co. produced parliamentary plans, such Bills for railway, sewerage and waterwork projects, while also undertaking trade work. A notable publication is William Sanders' ‘Map of the Bristol Coalfield’, issued in 1862 on 19 sheets. However, the company’s staple trade was letter-headings, bills, leaflets and labels. At 78, John was ‘the oldest lithographer in Bristol’, when he died in 1889.
