A Modest Collection of Traditional Songs of the Colonial Period
by M. Richard Tully

This newly remade book now contains 70 songs with a historical note about each. Made with both beginners and experts in mind anyone may pick up the book and begin at their own level. If you do not read music a CD is included so you can pick up the tune quickly. The songs were arranged to be easy to play on flute, whistle, or guitar. An appendices discusses guitar, flute, pipe, tabor, violin and other appropriate instruments of the period.

165 pp.
$24.95

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What Clothes Reveal
The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America

by Linda Baumgarten

Drawing on contemporary written descriptions and on actual costumes of the period, the book analyzes what Americans in the eighteenth century considered fashionable and attractive and how they used clothing to assert status or to identify occupations. The book also examines the myths and meanings of clothing in British and American society, clothing for the entire lifecycle, and a history of clothing alteration. Informative sidebars on a variety of fascinating topics complete the volume.

Linda Baumgarten is curator of textiles and costumes at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA.

2002
256 pp. 36 b/w + 355 colorplates, 9" × 12"
Cloth ISBN 0-300-09580-5
$70.00

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Samplers
(A Shire Book)

Pamela Clabburn

Samplers have a long history in Britain, dating from the sixteenth century. They were originally a collection of patterns gathered together for easy reference to be used in embroidery and needlepoint lace. Later they developed into a schoolgirl's exercise and today they are more often used to record stitches than patterns. This book traces the history of samplers in Britain from the late sixteenth century onwards and includes examples of long, darning, map, school, stitch and plain sewing samplers as well as those associated with great events and private griefs and joys.

40 pp, 34 colour, 22 b/w illustrations
$8.95

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Embroidered Georgian Pictures
(A Shire Book)

Margaret Swain

Meticulously embroidered pictures that could be framed and displayed formed a part of a girl's education throughout the Georgian period in Britain (1714-1830). This book shows the variety of subjects and techniques and also glances at the work produced in American schools. It is a useful handbook for collectors, museum curators and antique dealers, and an inspiration to the modern needlewoman.

32 pp, 45 illustrations
$6.00

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The Laces of Ipswich: The Art and Economics of an Early American Industry, 1750-1840

Raffel, Marta Cotterell

Richly illustrated study of the central role of lace making in defining a colonial American community. In its lace making heyday in the late eighteenth century, Ipswich, Massachusetts boasted 600 lace makers in a town of only 601 households. George Washington himself, a lace aficionado, paid a visit to Ipswich in 1789 to support its extraordinary domestic textile industry.

While most research on lace making concentrates on its cottage origins in the seventeenth century, Marta Cotterell Raffel places the Ipswich industry squarely within the wider context of eighteenth-century manufacture, economics, and culture. Identifying what differentiates Ipswich lace from other American or European lace, she explores how lace makers learned their skills, and how they combined a traditional lace making education with attention to market-driven changes in style. Showing how the shawls, bonnets, and capes created by the lace makers often designated the social position or political affiliation of the wearer, she offers a unique and fascinating guide to our material past.

With extensive research based on hundreds of previously unseen artifacts and documents, Raffel shows how this pre-industrial labor and craft—absolutely central to the economic health of Ipswich—created and sustained forms of early American culture and shaped an entire community for several generations.

Useful appendixes include a glossary of terms; a list of contemporary sources for supplies, lace organizations, and textile museums with lace collections; and two sample patterns with pricking and instructions.

2003, 176 pages, 101 illustrations, 7" × 10"
$24.95

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Shoemaking
(A Shire Book)

June Swan

Before the 1920s everyone knew the local cobbler, a worthy representative of the "gentle craft", who repaired shoes and made them look like new for a few pence. This book tells the story of shoemaking from the days of the isolated shoemaker, who made a shoe right through, to the groups of men who worked with apprentices in the larger towns and served the customer direct.

It shows the growth of mass production in the seventeenth century, with a recognizable factory system and warehouses in the cities. Finally the book shows the late development of mechanization in the 1850s and the rigidity it imposed.

June Swann MBE, was Keeper of the Boot and Shoe Collection, Northampton Museum, until 1988. She is now a consultant on the history of shoes and shoemaking.

32 pp, 50 illustrations
$7.00

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Tidings from the 18th Century

By Beth Gilgun

Ms. Gilgun animates the mid to late 1700s with her entertaining and informative "letters" to a friend on the frontier. As an accomplished seamstress and goodwife, she covers topics such as daily life, housekeeping, sewing skills and news of the latest goods available in the East Coast markets. Clothing for men, women and children is thoroughly explained with clear, concise instructions from choosing the fabric to cutting and sewing the garments. A great book for re-enactors from 1750 to 1840.

8 1/2" × 11", 285 pages
$26.95

Wm. Booth comment: We have used this book to make several pieces of clothing and find the diagrams and instruction easy to follow and the clothes fit, although you must customize them to the size you need.

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Looms and Weaving
(A Shire Book)

Anna Benson and Neil Warburton

This book describes the development of the loom from a crude wooden frame to a sophisticated electronic weaving machine. It introduces common textile terms and techniques and there is a description of primitive looms, such as Greek Tapestry and Navaho blanket weaving. Medieval craft guilds, the domestic system and Yeoman Weavers are dealt with, while handloom weaving is contrasted with the powerloom and the mill system. The authors examine the decorative fabrics such as brocades produced on early Chinese drawlooms and the introduction of Jacquard and dobby weaving in the nineteenth century. The reaction against industrialization and William Morris's inauguration of the Arts and Crafts movement are discussed in relation to the craft revival of the twentieth century.

Anna Benson and Neil Warburton are weavers and textile historians, with an extensive collection of antique hand and power looms.

32 pp, 39 illustrations
$7.00

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Scenes from Georgian Life

by Margaret Willes

In eighteenth-century Britain caricatures and cartoons occupied the place of the popular press and television today—graphic pictorial renderings of the flow of events, moods and fashions. Nearly one hundred and fifty examples may be seen pasted to the wall of the Caricature Room of Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, including many by Thomas Rowlandson, James Gillray and George Cruikshank. Margaret Willes examines twenty-five of these images, providing a revealing insight to the pleasures and pains of Georgian life.

2001 The National Trust
48 pp. 8 1/4" × 8 1/4"
$9.95

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The Laundress (Jean-Baptisite Greuze)

This lively and engrossing book traces the history of the Getty Museum's painting, compares the work to other laundresses painted by Greuze, and explores social mores and the role of artist's model in the eighteenth century. It provides an enlightening account of Greuze's life and times and the influences on his work.

Excellent description of the laundresses of Paris among others and the first description we've read of exactly how linens were washed. The pictures also highlight clothing of the lower sort.

2004
$19.95 Soft Cover

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Images of the Outcast

by Sean Shesgreen

This book includes many pictures of street criers from the late 16th to the 19th century including most of Paul Sandby's cries of London which are often hard to find. These illustrations are great to look at when reconstructing clothing worn by the poor. The soft cover is now out of print and there is a limited number of hard cover. 7" x 10", 228 pages ISBN 0831631527

$47.50 hard cover

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A British Soldier's Story:
Roger Lamb's Narrative of the American Revolution.

Edited & Annotated by Don N. Hagist

This narrative includes two abridged books edited and extensively footnoted; A Journal of Occurrences during the Late American War (1809) and Memoir of My Own Life (1811). Lamb describes his recruitment, his voyage to America, the Ticonderoga campaign, his capture at Saratoga, his imprisonment in Boston and his escape to New York City. This is followed by Lamb's participation in the invasion of Charleston, the battles of Camden, Cowpens and Guilford Courthouse, and his daring escape during the climatic Yorktown campaign and lengthy return to British-held New York City. Also included is biographical material of Roger Lamb, and an overview of weapons, tactics, uniforms, and accouterments of the British army during the American War for Independence.

6" × 9", 206 pages
$14.95

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Rangers and Redcoats on the Hudson
Exploring the Past on Rogers Island
(Includes the Complete Rogers Rules of Ranging)

David R. Starbuck

A lively account of an archeological investigation at a major French and Indian War military encampment.

From 1991 to 1998 archeologist David Starbuck conducted excavations on Rogers Island, one of the most significant military encampments of the French and Indian War. Located in the Hudson River in what is now the town of Fort Edward, Rogers Island was once home to thousands of British "redcoats" as well as hundreds of "rangers"—irregular American colonial fighters. In fact, the island is named for its association with the famed Major Robert Rogers, leader of Rogers' Rangers and noted author of "Rules of Ranging," his brief code-of-conduct for colonial guerrilla fighters written while encamped on the island. Rogers Island was one of the longest occupied and populous training camps of the French and Indian War and contains the remains of barracks, tents, storehouses, and hospitals. As such, the island offers unique and fascinating insights into the daily life of colonial soldiers.

Writing in a lively and accessible style, Starbuck presents the findings of his many digs while retelling the history of the island and its many inhabitants. In addition to re-creating the world of the colonial soldier, he shares island myths, stories of treasure seekers, and information about his exhumation in 2003 of the remains of Jane McCrea, the young woman who was killed and scalped in Fort Edward during the American Revolution. Most importantly, Starbuck shows us how archeology works as the energetic collection and interpretation of sherds and fragments that make expand our knowledge of one historical time and place.

168 pages, 120 illustrations, 7" × 10"
$19.95

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Had On and Took With Her

Compiled and Edited by Sue Huesken & Karen Mullian

Clothing in female runaway servant advertisements from The Pennsylvania Evening Post as published by Benjamin Towne between 1775-1784.

5 1/4" × 8 1/2", 36 pages
$9.50

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Cambridge Jests
or, Wits Recreation.

Anonymous c. 1770

Now in stock!

How many jokes do you know that are over 200 years old? Jest or joke books were very popular during the 17th century but have remained in print to the present. This is copied from an original in a private collection. Much can be learned about the people of the 18th century by reading their jokes. Consistent with the values of the times many of the jokes in this book are bawdy.

Dimensions: 4" x 7 1/2"
24 pp.
$3.00

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The Poor Unhappy Transported Felon's
Sorrowful Account of His Fourteen Years Transportation at Virginia, in-America.

Anonymous c. 1760s

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This story describes the life of a man born in London who falls into bad company and finds himself being sold along with slaves to work on a plantation in Virginia. The entire story is written in rhyme that could be set to music and song as a ballad. As an interpretive tool much may be learned about the slave trade, clothing, and the life of the poor. Several original copies of this book are held in collections both public and private.

Dimensions: 5 1/2" x 8 1/2"
8 pp.
$2.00

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