What is worse, I think I use no more than quarter of my beautiful books from one year to the next.īut does one sell one's books? Give them away? Bequeath them to the National Library? first my study, then Joe's study and now the second bedroom. My house is being taken over by books *sigh*. So your collection of costume books has become what some might call excessive? Just a bit excessive? Do you still have a bed to sleep on and a table top to feed the children on? (In accord with some FTC rule or other-which probably doesn’t apply to us, since we're not reviewers, but never mind-readers are hereby informed that I bought this book with my own hard-earned cash.)Īh.yet another book to add to my wish list! If you’ve ever wondered exactly how a Regency era spencer was constructed, how long a dress opening was below the waistline (Would one step out of it or pull it over one’s head?), how and where a dress fastened, how a lady’s parasol worked, or the size of various ladies’ feet, this is the book for you. Bradfield’s own collection-three from the Regency and one from 1913. The Appendix includes some extremely beautiful drawings of items from Ms. A page featuring shawls, for instance, includes her sketch of Ingres’ famous painting of Madame Rivière (below right). She also might include on a page a little hand-drawn copy of a famous painting or fashion illustration that corresponds to the item she’s anatomized. Now and again, I’ll find in these books one of the dresses she’s drawn. Several are too frail or too soiled ever to be put on view.” However, it’s easy enough to apply information from her book to the beautiful color photographs in other books, like Jane Ashelford’s The Art of Dress, or Lucy Johnston’s Nineteenth Century Fashion in Detail. Bradfield says "in detail," she means in detail.Īccording to her introduction, her “studies…are entirely from private collections only a mere handful have ever been exhibited or seen by the general public.
It’s all text and drawings, fanatically detailed drawings in which every seam has been measured and noted, every button or hook accounted for… In short, when Ms. Its pages contain not a smidgen of color. It isn’t a gorgeous book, like the coffee-table size V&A or university press publications. When I’m working on a scene where the characters’ clothes are very important for one reason or another, the book I’m most likely to open first is Nancy Bradfield’s Costume in Detail 1730-1930.
Today the spotlight is one of my most-frequently-consulted. Thanks to NHG Susan’s many enticing suggestions, my collection of costume books has become what some might call excessive.
As my numerous posts from fashion magazines attest, I spend a lot of time these days studying and thinking about historic dress.
0 kommentar(er)
