Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in good condition. Pages in good condition. Some marking due to age but pages are bright. Ex library. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> This is an attempt to take a new look at old needlework in Britain. To describe it century by century or even reign by reign may be orderly but is not always accurate since taste and design did not change suddenly with the turn of the century or at each coronation. Indeed the domestic needlewoman who made most of the pieces remaining to us in this country seems to have been very conservative in her choice of designs. I have taken instead well-defined groups of needlework such as chair seats bed hangings and pictures and have selected only pieces that are signed and dated or otherwise well documented to serve as reference for those whose dates and history are not known. A great many of the pieces are still in the houses for which they were made and I am grateful to the owners for allowing me to use them as illustrations. With the exception of white embroidery which has been my study for many years I have not dealt with embroidery on clothing as costume is now an important and separ- ate subject and in any case except for underwear clothing is seldom signed or dated. Since I have had the good fortune to live in Edinburgh for twenty-two years I have had unique opportunities of access to public and private archives in Scotland which have never before been explored for research into historical embroidery and the new material so obtained sheds a fresh light on the history of needle- work over the whole of Britain. (LL)