Material literacy in eighteenth-century Britain : a nation of makers

Format:

Book

Language:

English

Imprint:

London ; New York : Bloomsbury Visual Arts, [2020]

Subject:

Material culture - England - History - 18th century
Textile crafts - England - History - 18th century
Needleworkers - England - History - 18th century
Consumers - England - History - 18th century
Consumption (Economics) - England - History - 18th century

Contributor:

Dyer, Serena, editor
Smith, Chloe Wigston, editor

ISBN:

9781501349614 and 1501349619

Series:

Material culture of art and design

Description:

xvii, 309 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

Bibliographic Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index

Contents:

'Work'd pockets to my entire satisfaction' : women and the multiple literacies of making / Ariane Fennetaux -- Needlework verse / Crystal B. Lake -- Domestic crafts at the School of Arts / Chloe Wigston Smith -- 'To embroider what is wanting' : making, consuming and mending textiles in the lives of the Bluestockings / Nicole Pohl -- Material literacies of home comfort in Georgian England / Jon Stobart -- Stitching and shopping : the material literacy of the consumer / Serena Dyer -- Stitching the it-narrative in The History and Adventures of a Lady's Slippers and Shoes / Alicia Kerfoot -- Making, measuring and selling in Hampshire : the provincial tailor's accounts of George and Benjamin Ferrey / Sarah Howard -- Gendered making and material knowledge : tailors and mantua-makers, c. 1760-1820 / Emily Taylor -- Dress and dressmaking : material evolution in Regency dress construction / Hilary Davidson -- Fancy feathers : the feather trade in Britain and the Atlantic world / Elisabeth Gernerd -- Tomahawks and scalping knives : manufacturing savagery in Britain / Robbie Richardson -- The lady vanishes : Madame Tussaud's self portrait and material legacies / Laura Engel -- Learning to craft / Beth Fowkes Tobin

Summary:

"The eighteenth century has been hailed for its revolution in consumer culture, but Material Literacy in Eighteenth-Century Britain repositions Britain as a nation of makers. It brings new attention to eighteenth-century craftswomen and men with its focus on the material knowledge possessed not only by professional artisans and amateur makers, but also by skilled consumers. This edited collection gathers together a group of interdisciplinary scholars working in the fields of art history, history, literature, and museum studies to unearth the tactile and tacit knowledge that underpinned fashion, tailoring, and textile production. It invites us into the workshops, drawing rooms, and backrooms of a broad range of creators, and uncovers how production and tacit knowledge extended beyond the factories and machines which dominate industrial histories. This book illuminates, for the first time, the material literacies learnt, enacted, and understood by British producers and consumers. The skills required for sewing, embroidering, and the textile arts were possessed by a large proportion of the British population: men, women and children, professional and amateur alike. Building on previous studies of shoppers and consumption in the period, as well as narratives of manufacture, these essays document the multiplicity of small producers behind Britain's consumer revolution, reshaping our understanding of the dynamics between making and objects, consumption and production. It demonstrates how material knowledge formed an essential part of daily life for eighteenth-century Britons. Craft technique, practice, and production, the contributors show, constituted forms of tactile languages that joined makers together, whether they produced objects for profit or pleasure"-- Provided by publisher

Collection:

BGC Monograph Stacks

Call Number:

GN585.E54 M38 2020

Available

c.1