Old text on London Tailoring

[binge]

Came across this nugget at Internet Archive:

The tailor

Grab the PDF and enjoy a description of London tailoring of days past. Best guess is 19th century publication, but no obvious date markings are on the book and the wording seems a bit too contemporary for 19th c. IMO. Many diagrams later in the book, starting around page 70 or so. Maybe Sator can weigh in?

Enjoy.

 

[Holdfast]

Looks interesting; thanks for the link! Just downloaded it and will help myself to a sherry later and read a few chapters.

 

[Cary Grant]

Thanks

 

[Golf_Nerd]

Thanks

 

[Sator]

Thanks for the PM drawing my attention to this thread - and thanks, too, for starting it.

The diagram on P83 clearly marks the style out as being c1850-75. The main reason is that there is no side body on the dress coat. On a dress coat post 1880 or so, you would see three panels instead of the two depicted. However, the trend to deploying a side body did start in the 1850s (cf Minister). By the 1890s it becomes absolutely ubiquitous. Earlier pre-1850s dress coats were much more tight fitting and the system for drafting the panels looks quite different.

The second stylistic hint is on P82. The skirt has a strap that extends along the top of the skirt towards the front. This went out of fashion circa 1905. This means the text must be pre-Edwardian.

The third hint on P81 is the marked taper on the sleeve. This is something you see pre-1870. Dress coats were even more tight fitting than on this sleeve c1830-40's and this gradually diminished as the century progresses.

The last hint is the cryptic Fig. 6 on P81. I can't find the textual reference to it, but it appears to be a collar. The shape of the collar is unmistakably that of an M-notch lapel!

These were last seen on dress coats in the 1870's.

All in all, I would guess that text dates to around 1850-75

 

[Sator]

A quick look through the same internet archive dug up a couple of fine texts by T.H. Holding. The first is on tailored garments for ladies: http://www.archive.org/stream/ladiescuttingma00holdgoog The second is on British liveries: http://www.archive.org/details/britishliveries00hold Thomas Hiram Holding wrote between around 1890-1910. He is always worthwhile reading because, even if the tailoring instructions are a bit cryptic, he is a hoot to read. He relates hilarious stories of his clients who were impossible to please, and other colourful anecdotes. I really wish his main textbooks on cutting for men were widely available. The level of skill in manipulating patterns he shows off (without always clearly divulging the secret of how to do it!) is breathtaking. He is a wizard, and his writing style incredibly entertaining.

 

[Sator]

Finally, here is another totally unrelated text by Thomas Hiram Holding on the subject of camping, no less:

http://www.archive.org/stream/campershandbook00holdgoog

I have seen it advertised in an original text on cutting by Holding. The publisher is given as "De Vere", which I suspect has some relation to Loius Devere, another famous cutter from a generation before Holding.

 

[binge]

Thanks for your analysis, and I hope you enjoyed unearthing other vintage texts from our archives. My employer partners with many national libraries in the book/text scanning effort, and it's likely that the National Library of Australia is one of our partners. I know they are our partner in other efforts, I just don't know off hand if scanning is one of them.

One of the services of our scanning program is a "sponsored scan" where an individual can sponsor the scan of a text. In general this means that for a small $$ you can move your choice up the priority list and have your name included in an acknowledgment page of the digital copy. Last I heard the sponsored scan service was still in in development, or might be in a "beta" release. I'll have to check.

Also, and perhaps most prescient to all, there may be opportunity for scanning of donated, or at least loaned, materials that are particularly noteworthy or rare. If you have many rare and/or vintage texts, as suggested my your erudite posts, I could probably introduce you to key people at the National Library of Australia to identify a program suitable for the the digital preservation of them. If you are so inclined of course.

 

[binge]

Expanding the bookshelf a bit...

OpenLibrary's 226 books on Tailoring, from 1792-2009