Founded as a silk printing business by William Asprey, a descendant of a Huguenot family who fled France during Louis XIV's reign,[4] it soon became a luxury emporium.

In 1841, William Asprey's elder son Charles went into partnership with a stationer located on London's Bond Street.

Asprey crafted traditional cases and designs, mostly in leather, suitable for the new style of travel ushered in by railways.

Asprey was recognised for its expertise when it won honourable mention for its dressing cases at the International Exhibition of 1862, but it ultimately lost out to its rivals, H.J.

In the 1920s, commissions poured in from around the world, from American billionaire J. Pierpont Morgan to potentates such as the Maharaja of Patiala, who commissioned a huge teak travelling trunk for each of his wives, in which each trunk was fitted with solid silver washing and bathing utensils with waterspouts of ornate tiger head and lined with blue velvet.

Queen Mary purchased a five-strand natural pearl necklace with a diamond-set Art Deco clasp in 1948, as a gift for Princess Margaret’s 18th birthday.

[7] Asprey cigarette cases became collectable amongst young sophisticates who delighted in its other modern products, including travel clocks, safety razors and automatic pencil sharpeners.

[8] In the 1970s, brothers Algernon and Harry Asprey were asked to resign as managing directors and they sold their shares to Gabriel Harrison's property company.

However, it was not until the Second World War, when raw materials were in such short supply, that Asprey began to offer second-hand and antiquarian books.

Following the war, this practice was further developed to include a range of books, old and new, that were bound by Asprey, thus augmenting the company's tradition in leather goods.

An expanded jewellery, silver and leather workshop based in London are where classic skills are employed by silversmiths, goldsmiths, jewellers, leatherworkers, engravers and watchmakers.

They toasted three slices of bread in their workshop, fried the eggs, broiled the bacon, assembled the sandwich, made a mould, and cast it.

[54] To mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, Asprey partnered with light artist Chris Levine to create a new work based upon his 2004 portrait Equanimity, commissioned by The Jersey Heritage Trust in 2004.

One thousand white diamonds were set in platinum by Asprey craftsmen and overlaid onto the original three-dimensional image of the Queen to create the luminescent installation.

"This is a historic luxury brand, and that is part of our reason for acquiring it," said chairman John Rigas, following the purchase from Lawrence Stroll, Silas Chou (of Sportswear Holdings Ltd) and Edgar Bronfman Jr.[63] Subsequently, Rigas re-focused the business to concentrate on flagships and stand alone stores in key international locations.

In 2009, Hermés, the French luxury fashion house, made a property investment purchasing the freehold of the New Bond Street shop that Asprey occupied.

[64][65] Asprey moved to 36 Bruton Street at the end of 2021, its new permanent flagship, firstly creating an installation space designed by the Storey Group, an immersive experience of discovery and exploration.