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BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR
HISTORICAL TEXT ON ANTIQUE
NEEDLEWORK
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GO TO OUR INDEX OF AUTHORS
GO TO OUR
INDEX OF
TITLES
THE
EVOLUTION
OF SAMPLERS:
Embroidery and Sampler Time Line, A
Four-Hundred Year History of Sampler
Making
By
Eileen Bennett
Following the format of an
historical time-line, beginning with the
prehistoric 'invention' of the
needle, the author follows the history of
embroidery leading up to samplermaking,
over the millennia in 263 entries, with
annotations. Steps along this lengthy and
circuitous path include the first mention
of linen fabric and silk thread in the Old
Testament, the evolution of various sewing
tools such as the scissors, the completion
of significant works of embroidery (Opus
Anglicanum, the Bayeux Tapestry, Jane
Bostocke's sampler), the first
publications of popular pattern books in
the 16th century, and so on. It makes for
fascinating reading.
Spiral bound, 50 pages, $26.00
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MORE
THAN
MERE
AMUSEMENT:
Working-Class
Women's Leisure in
England, 1750-1914
By Catriona M.
Parratt
From the
carefree
pleasure-seeking
London factory girls
to the overworked
housewife drudge, the
lives of English-working
class women during
this period of history
were characterized by
two constants: work
and want. The author
explores how and to
what degree women
managed to carve out a
sphere of pleasure for
themselves. Despite
the constraints of
subsistence earnings,
exploitative working
conditions, and the
double burden of wages
and domestic labor,
women still found ways
to amuse themselves
(don't we know it?).
Their amusements
included attending
concert hall
performances, buying
hats and clothes,
joining party clubs,
treating each other to
drinks at the pub,
playing cricket, and
of course sewing. The
author draws upon a
wide range of sources:
letters, diaries, oral
accounts,
parliamentary papers,
among them.
Paper, 224 pages,
$20.00
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LIFE-WRITINGS
BY
BRITISH
WOMEN,
1660-1833
ed. Carolyn A. Barros
This pioneering
collection of life-writings
by British women provides a
unique insight into the
diverse needs and motives
for self-expression that
inspired women
autobiographers. It includes
a wide range of documents,
many of which have been
unavailable prior to this
publication. They include
memoirs of family life,
travel narratives, personal
letters, testimonies and
legal appeals, and even some
scandalous memoirs! The
writers represented range
from ladies to servants,
spinsters to courtesans,
poets to actresses, and
wronged wives. Each section
is preceded by explanatory
notes placing the documents
in their proper historical,
cultural and social contexts
Paper, 416 pages, $20.00
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WITCH-HUNTING
IN
SEVENTEENTH
CENTURY NEW ENGLAND:
A Documentary
History,
1638-1693
By David D.
Hall
This
superb edition
documents for
the first time
the witch-hunts
that went beyond
Salem to the
extensive
Stamford-Fairfield,
Connecticut,
hunts of
1692-93. Here
one encounters
witch-hunts
through the eyes
of the
participants;
the accusers,
judges, and
victims. The
original texts
tell in vivid
detail a
multi-dimensional
story. Primary
sources used to
include court
depositions as
well as excerpts
from the diaries
and letters of
contemporaries.
Paper, 378
pages, $17.95
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 Textiles
at Sulgrave
Sulgrave Manor, located near Banbury in
Oxfordshire, England, is the home of
George Washington's ancestors.
In 1539, Lawrence Washington purchased
the land from Henry VIII and built the
house which was to be his family's home
for more than a century.
Sulgrave Manor's collection of textiles and embroideries includes items of
costume, of furnishing and decoration,
ranging from the 17th to the 21st
century, illustrating a variety of
techniques including sampler making,
canvas work, stumpwork, quilting,
weaving, and surface embroideries.
All profits from the sales of this book
are directed to textile refurbishment at
Sulgrave Manor.
Paper, 32 pages, full color, $16.00
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Ayrshire and Other
Whitework
by Margaret Swain
 For
a generation or more,
white on white
embroidery, a symbol
of purity and
elegance, once so
desirable, has been
neglected by
needlewoman and
collector alike. The
growing importance of
antique costume, in
the saleroom and among
serious students of
textiles, has aroused
interest in the
embroidered white
accessories that were
an indispensable part
of the whole ensemble.
This book gives a
concise summary of the
various techniques and
gives a readable and
authoritative account
of such diverse types
as Dresden work,
tamboured muslin,
Ayrshire embroidery,
Mountmellick and
Richelieu work,
broderie anglaise,
quilting and
stringwork. A useful
section shows how to
identify machine
embroidery and Indian
whitework.
Paper, 32 pages,
$10.00
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Sampler Motifs and
Symbolism
by Patricia Andrle and
Lesley Rudnicki
 This
book supplies a
dictionary of the
symbolic meanings
behind old sampler
motifs and the
reproduction of a
Scottish sampler, plus
four "new" traditional
samplers (nb: with
motifs taken from
samplers reproduced by
The Scarlet Letter for
The Fitzwilliam
Museum, although this
is not noted in the
credits) with complete
graphs and
instructions.
Hardbound, 96 pages,
$35.00
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