Selling silks : a merchant's sample book 1764 / Lesley Ellis Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, Lesley Ellis, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Silk industry--Europe--History--18th century.

Silk industry.

Textile fabrics--Sample books.

Textile fabrics.

History.

England.

France.

Europe.

Silk industry--France--History--18th century.

Silk industry--England--History--18th century.

Genre:

Sample books.

Physical Description:

271 pages : color illustrations, color facsimiles ; 32 cm

Place of Publication:

London : V&A Publishing, 2014.

Summary:

"In 1764, British Customs confiscated a book containing hundreds of silk samples of different qualities from French agents who were attempting to sell them illegally in London. The merchant's sample book acquired in 1972 by the V&A may be this very book, a fascinating record of the eighteenth-century French and English silk industries and their commercial practices. Alongside a full and faithful reproduction of the whole album, Lesley Miller sets in context the role of the book as a marketing tool from the premier European silk-weaving centre of Lyon and as a model for Spitalfields manufacturers. This publication makes accessible the contents of an extremely rare and fragile object. Translations of French inscriptions, identification of how samples have migrated from one page to another, and technical analysis of some of the silks, as well as a glossary and biographical data on the Lyonnais suppliers make this an invaluable resource for historians, collectors and designers." -- Publisher's description.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 264-265) and index.

ISBN:

9781851777815

1851777814

OCLC:

858843971