By John Styles
Out of print in the US
The exhibit book of the 2011 exhibition showcasing never-before seen fabrics that illustrate the emotional moment of parting between mothers and their babies. These textiles attached to registration papers have remained basically undisturbed till recently. A treasure of insight into fashion of the 18th century, Curator John Styles, Research Professor in History at the University of Hertfordshire describes the power of these humble objects:
‘The textiles are both beautiful and poignant, embedded in a rich social history. Each swatch reflects the life of a single infant child. But the textiles also tell us about the clothes their mothers wore, because baby clothes were usually made up from worn-out adult clothing. The fabrics reveal how working women struggled to be fashionable in the eighteenth century.’
SOFTCOVER 72 pages
